Fingers Crossed this Works

Yesterday I got a message saying that I was out of memory.  I got several helpful notes from folks about what to do.  I decided today that I'd bite the bullet and pay for the extra memory  - a whole 25G.  However, when I said yes give me more, the message I got said I was using 0% of the driver memory, 0% of gmail, and 11% allowable Picasa memory....while, it's been a few years since I've done grade 4 arithmetic - I know that 0%, 0%, and 11% are well within the maximum of 100%.  Very interesting.  Something about this whole thing doesn't sound quite right. 

Anyway, enough about computers, memory and Picasa - how about this wonderful little beetle:

He is a Grape Vine Beetle who according to various internet sources eats a number of other plants and hosta flowers.  Even though they're tank-sized in the insect world, they don't do too much damage.  I'm wondering if a bird got a hold of him and spit him out - his armour seems a bit dented.  

Yesterday was the first day in many when we weren't facing Dallas-type temperatures.  It rained pathetically all day long - about 3.26 drops per square meter total.  So I got into my big oval bed and among other things removed the hosta scapes and finishing flowers, did a whack of weeding, clipping and various other bits of upkeep.  After 3 hours the garden looked much better than I did.  

The weather today is bright, sunny and gorgeous.  Anyone who has a hibiscus has a brilliant show.  The easy winter, and the heat and drought seemed to really suit this tropical-looking plant.  Here's one by the door that is in a garden that isn't overly tended (is that a nice big black walnut starting to grow?).  Fabulous flowers.  I'm going back in late fall to see if I might find some seed.

Since I've been blogging and reading those blogs in the Southern States, I've developed Muhly Grass Lust.  It's pink, it's fluffy, it's marvellous.  I'm thinking, that if I was to grow this grass and spray it pink, I could have Canadian Muhly Grass.  (before you all turn up your nose about dying plants - when I visited Thomas Hobbs (Shocking Beauty, The Jewel Box Garden) garden in Vancouver, he'd given a few little seed heads a wee spritz of blue just to give them a bit of a punch - if it's good enough for Thomas, heck it's good enough for anyone).

This is an especially pretty Rose of Sharon down by the lake.

Ballet girls doing callisthenics.

And the lake this morning.  You can see that the algae has started to bloom again by the colour of the foam by the shore.

That's it for today - I'm keeping this post short as I'm afraid as soon as I press Publish, it will melt, or I'll get another message to buy more memory.  Now for those of you who want to brush up your arithmetic skills - if I used 11% of my 1G Picasa memory in 4 years of blogging, how many years would I have to live to use up 25Gs.  Guess I better revise my will, there's going to be a bit of space left over after I'm gone.