We interrupt this fit of perseveration

and liver-chewing, muttering, and very occasional fits of tidying to say

The tadpoles have hatched!

I have seen a green frog around, and I hope it won't munch all the tadpoles up. I think they are mildly poisonous, anyway.

This is one of my favorite times of year. In Concord,there are definitely tiny leaves and flowering tree. 17 miles outside the metropolis (okay, just polis then) we are about a week behind, and my star magnolia has just popped a few buds open. The trees are in heavy bud, and I like looking at them and seeing a kind of ghostly veil preview of their autumn colors, or a faint green cloud. One year in Canterbury in England in the 70's the weather stuck just so and we had, it seemed, six weeks of little green pearls and big yellow daffodils and clouds of bluebells, so thick I actually mistook one patch for a pond reflecting the sky.

Here it has been warm during the day and barely above freezing at night and just bug-free and lovely. Perfect weather. I haven't been taking proper advantage of it (in fact, I have been in a snit) but it was beautiful, even in my fog of evil intent and gloom. I wish we could have a summer of such low humidity...except the environment here is not adapted for that. All my wildlife is based, really, on a mosquito diet and we need moisture for them and to keep the daffodils blooming.

It was 81 this afternoon, which is going to push everything along fast. I hope it cools off again. It is supposed to rain, FINALLY, on Saturday and Sunday. Wasn't I having a party on Saturday? Why yes... I suppose if that's what it takes to break the drought so the amphibians of the area can go have wild salamander sex I can hardly complain.

How about the blackflies being a month early?

But still. The tadpoles in my puddle have made it this far and the large noisy animal we have seen lately has been a thoroughly delightful porcupine. Whether or not it is a big party, I am assured the people who can make it will be witty and charming and they will have tasty and interesting food, even if the house is less, um, restrained than I would like.