When the study of criminals becomes personal

Have I told you of the chicken that is nesting(?) under the banana tree in our front yard? She(?) has been in the exact same spot for almost 3 weeks now and I cannot imagine that she is doing anything other than nesting. We'll see what is going on soon enough I guess. right on the immediate other side of that wall is Honey, the pit bull. I don't know if she knows the chicken is less than 2 feet from her or if, perhaps, they have stricken a deal to co-exist out of necessity and in the name of peace in the neighborhood.

These are pictures of the two Cycnoches chlorochilon that have been blooming for me this summer. The top picture is the smaller of the plants that has flowers right this moment. The two pics below are of the one that had flowers in June. To me they have distinctively different sameness, as in the lower pictures are more like the "bird in flight" that so many talk about when referencing the look of these flowers. The upper plant pictured has so much more roundness to the flowers. Either way they are glorious and incredible smelling!!! The lower plant has a newly emerging 2ND flower spike, probably to bloom in September. It has just popped out

The red dahlias are just riveting, spiky cactus dahlias with lots of flowers and sprightly depths. Of course I forgot ALL ABOUT staking them, so over they toppled with the wait of those big puffy rusty Merlot flowers. Quite nice.

So I rode 38.83 miles today, in spite of it being very much later than I usually go out. I left at 5:30 and rolled in at 8 o'clock. Nice ride out to Alameda, Bay Farm Island, Oakland International Airport and down Doolittle Drive into San Leandro. Sunny and warm but west winds killing me at every turn.