Good day to you all on this sunny Saturday.  I hope the temperature will be less today than yesterday when it reached the mid 90s.  Plants I had watered well in the morning drooped by mid afternoon.  The weather people say there is a chance of pop-up showers that may deliver scattered showers. I'm not holding my breath.  I haven't done much in the gardens.  My painful hip is recovering and I think I will give it another day.  I don't really want to stand at my counter today filling the dehydrator with herbs.  We saw the little female hummingbird yesterday morning.  If this heat keeps up I am going to change and rinse out the feeder more frequently.

I looks like Japan simply can't catch a break.  Last year it was the earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima Dai-ichi.  This year they have unbelievable rain, landslides, and flooding.  NHK last night mentioned that more than 100k people are still displaced from last year's disasters.  Now they are joined by 250k from the flooded areas.

As I perused MSNBC this morning I saw two nearly juxtaposed headlines that amused me.  The first noted 'China growth slows, world worried.'  The second trumpets 'Dow surges 204 points on economic optimism.'  Really???  I don't think so.  I see panic.  Those boys are looking for a savior.  China's growth between late 2009 and late last year was phenomenal and likely softened the economic downturn elsewhere.  Pundits have said often over the last months that the U.S. is the 'cleanest dirty shirt in the laundry.'  That doesn't sound like optimism.

I think the above cartoon pretty much sums up my take on our election silly-season.


Muddy Boots Dreams has a humorous take on the heat wave.  I sympathize fully.  Keeping the gardens watered is a bit of a challenge (see above).

I have been very positively impressed with the new French President.  I read somewhere that he ordered a 30% reduction in the salaries of government officials at the same time that Angela Merkel raised her and her ministers' salaries in Germany.  And then there is the article I found this morning which outlines further economies.  I think any government that expects to impose 'austerity' on its people should start with itself.  So few of them do.  The conservatives who are now out of office criticize the measures as 'meaningless' in light of the budget deficits they face.  But the symbolism is right on the bull's eye.  As I have often asked of our Repthuglican politicians:  What are you willing to 'sacrifice;' what financial pain are willing to suffer while putting the screws to the poor, the middle class, and the working class?  From what I have see--not any.