We're Havin' A Heat Wave

Day after day now the temperature hovers at 100º and there's no end in sight. Cracks craze the garden soil. Frequent watering is necessary just to keep plants alive. Annie gets to stay in the house, where she distributes drifts of her hair. Our appetites have waned and cooking has no appeal.

There's just one bright spot: the butterfly garden where butterflies flit about all day, sipping nectar and doing mating dances.

Two Tiger Swallowtails and a Fritillary

Tiger Swallowtail with closed wings

Tiger Swallowtail with open wings

Black Swallowtails prefer tiger lily nectar

It's my good fortune to stand at the living room window of an air-conditioned house, watching these beauties who go about their brief lives oblivious to human discomfort.