Taking one's chances with the U.S. Postal Service.

Last Saturday, I handed a package to the mailman. It was two rolls of film being sent to the lab in southern California for development. I expected them to get there by Tuesday. When that didn't happen, I checked the tracking data and got vague information about the package being late. This went on for a few more days until today, when I was finally able to dig a little deeper. It seems my film made it to Sacramento just fine but instead to being sent from there to Anaheim (the home of Disneyland), it was sent to Jersey City. New Jersey.(2781 miles from Disneyland) By the time I got this information, it had already come back across country as far as Phoenix, Arizona. This would just be a matter of inconvenience except for one thing. Photographic film is sensitive to excess heat. And my film has been wandering back and forth across a large, excessively hot country. Maybe by this time next week I'll find out whether US$70+ worth of film and processing, not to mention non-replacable images, is damaged beyond fixing. Maybe this is the Universe telling me to go back to digital.

Ankle Jungle

We're in the midst of a mini (for here) heatwave. The high today is forecast to reach 103 F (about 39C). Instead of feeling sorry for myself, see previous post and nearest thermometer, I decided to dig up some pictures I took last March.
In spite of being a dry place, when we have a wet winter, all sorts of amazing little plants start popping out of the ground. I call them the ankle jungle because even though some reach knee height, they are mostly much lower. You have to get down to really see them but they are quite beautiful.