Road rash

E is working as a CIT out by the Eno River this week, so I went for a run this morning after dropping him off. The good news, sorta, is that my left heel, which has been tender of late, feels great next to the road rash I'm now sporting on my right side. I tripped on a rock or tree root early in my run and went flying, slow motion, trying to regain my balance until I inevitably crashed and slid. I sat up on the side of the trail, found my glasses (not broken, even though they went flying too when I face planted on them), worried about probably feeding the ticks with my butt while I checked out my shin, hip, arm, shoulder, and face, and then got up and continued running, figuring it would probably hurt less now than later.

My biggest concern is that I slammed my right hand on the ground when I fell, because even with the advantage of expanded space-time, it didn't occur to me to protect my livelihood as I was going down. My thumb and palm are not happy. I'm pretty sure both are just bruised, not sprained, but the hurt is reminding me why, decades ago, I intentionally avoided a career that would rely on my hands. So much for that. Today I'll be good about icing my hand and ingesting ibuprofen, and hopefully I'll be back to making pots and practicing in a day or two.

It's stinkin' hot outside

The brand new summer studio has AC! Who needs a foyer, anyway?

Yet more plants and bugs

Ten days ago, I posted this photo of a baby prickly pear pad:

Here's what it looks like today:

For a plant that grows slowly, what a huge investment of energy that is!

Ten days ago, I didn't post this photo of a mystery onion-like weed in our yard:

It's looking much more interesting today:

The main reason I was outside taking photos this morning was to document the gorgeous purple oregano flowers.

I'm once again delighted with how my Sony RX100 II enables me to observe things in pictures that I'd completely miss in real life, such as this Peucetia viridans (green lynx spider):

And with that segue back to bugs, here's an Apheloria tigana on the move out by the Eno River. I never realized they stood so high above the ground, but I guess their legs have to climb over some pretty bumpy terrain.