Yes, it’s raining.  What a lovely sound on the roof through the night.  It’s been a gentle one, too … which means it has half a chance of actually soaking into the parched ground.  Yippee!

I’m late to the table here, and luckily had some interesting links sent to me by Alison .. or I’d have very little to offer.

First, she sent along an excellent blog post from Commentaries of the Times titled “An Open Letter to Dr. Laura.”  I confess that I’ve not been following this tale too closely, as it has the ring of so many other shrill and hateful stories in the air these days.  (Plus, I’ve been obsessed with Dick, as many of you know.)  Anyway, Playthell Benjamin plays it well, and I (predictably) love his comments about the Pit Bull there at the end!

Then there’s Captured America in Color … photos taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information between 1939 and 1943.  I found their every-day-ness absolutely fascinating!  Check out the photo with the peach crates on a wagon heading to market.  It’s #24 and the caption reads:  “Hauling crates of peaches from the orchard to the shipping shed. Delta County, Colorado, September 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.”

… and then check out OUR peaches, 70 years later … harvested this past Saturday and Sunday.  😉

It’s amazing to me how such a dry summer can yield such luscious fruits.  Perhaps it’ll be next year that we see the effects of our near-drought.

And finally, here’s Willie on a sunnier afternoon than we’re likely to see today.  He’s my role model at the moment, for aging gracefully …

Wonder what he’s thinking?

Dreaming of tennis balls, no doubt … and sticks thrown into the Merrimack … and leaping off the dock up at the lake.  No thoughts of pit bulls or of Dick .. or other equally unworthy subjects.

Ah, Willie …

Peace.