#6

pen (gold, blue-green) and rapidograph on paper, 4x6"

also: there are 23 rose bushes in our front yard (!) and they are starting to bloom. this one (below) is particularly stunning. the base of the petals turns yellow and transitions to orange before turning to hot pink. a few weeks ago the bushes were plagued by aphids (they completely covered the buds with their semi-shiny, translucent little bodies), which munched on the buds and caused general funkiness to result. so we bought some seriously nasty chemical pesticide to eradicate those suckers.
NOT. actually, we caught several ladybugs and ladybug larvae in a jar (over by this unkempt, over-grown grassy median less than a block away) and relocated them to the leaves and buds of the rose bushes. the aphids were gone within two weeks, and you can still find a ladybug or two standing guard on a few bushes.

so, to summarize:
1) we spent $0 to take care of our garden-pest problem
2) we spent less than one hour gathering and "applying" our "pesticide"
3) we do not have to re-apply
4) we can enjoy, prune and pick the flowers without get chemical grossness on ourselves
5) the roses are happy!
win.

in other news, i retract the statement i have made multiple times in the past about california not having "unpredictable" weather. "unpredictable" must still be pretty loosely defined, but in the past week the temperature shot from the mid-70s up over a hundred (within two days), and then plunged back down into the "bearable" range again four days later. now it's in the low 70s again and cloudy. weird.

that's all. happy friday!