Soon

The dew point is rising, folks. As soon as we hit the third consecutive day of it averaging 54 degrees Fahrenheit or above, the Monsoon will have officially begun. Since the start date is determined retroactively, being the first of those three consecutive days, it is extremely likely that we'll have a June Monsoon on our hands. And that will be something the Nicolini-Bertsches have never experienced before. Strangely, years ending in "6" have had June start dates for many decades. That's a pretty strange statistical aberration, if you ask me. I'm delighted at the prospect of spending all of July in the bliss of humidity that is mild by Midwestern or East Coast standards, but worlds better for me than the parching desiccation of much of the Sonoran year. Did I mention how awesome this place smells after a summer thuderstorm? If a smell can be sublime -- Kant didn't discuss olfactory matters much, alas -- than it assuredly is.

Book Meme

Taken from elf_owl

Book Meme:

a) pick up a book which is the closest to you at the moment
b) open page 123
c) find the third sentence
d) post it in your Live Journal (plus the instructions)
e) don't choose the book, just pick up the one closest to you

"This was the purpose for which the deployment of sexuality was first established, as a new distribution of pleasures, discourses, truths, and powers; it has to be seen as the self-affirmation of one class rather than the enslavement of another: a defense, a protection, a strengthening, and an exaltation that were eventually extended to others -- at the cost of different transformations -- as a means of social control and political subjugation."

Klose Call

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Neither Argentina nor Germany looked as fluid as they had in previous games, but I think their respective defenses had a lot to do with that. The once-maligned German backfield made many nice stops. In the end, this was more like the old-school German victories, with a few seconds of brilliance in the air -- Miroslav Klose's authoritative goal came off an excellent cross from Michael Ballack and a spot-on flick from Tim Borowski in the box -- compensating for an otherwise stolid performance. Still, it was nice to see Ballack overcome his physical ailments to make his penalty kick and nicer still to see the also-maligned Lehmann guess correctly on every Argentinian penalty kick and make two saves. Germany now has a good chance of making the final, unless Italy can beat the Ukraine and then show better form than they have so far in the World Cup.

Felicitations

Up until yesterday, the only one of our shelled friends we had seen this year was Tim, the box turtle, who has made numerous appearances. Although there was plenty of turtle and tortoise poop in the backyard and the food we put out for them was clearly being eaten, our other three named reptiles -- we also have plenty of half-domesticated lizards, but they have yet to be christened -- had proved elusive. Then yesterday I saw the beautiful and perpetually grumpy Marie, our other box turtle. But I was beginning to despair of ever seeing our desert tortoises. And, then, as I was walking into the family room a few minutes ago, I saw Felicia:

I had to rush to put some greens out for her. She wasn't disturbed by my bustling and waited patiently for her meal. Now, only Max remains to be seen. Considering the fact that we only saw him a few times all of last summer, though, when the yard was a lot less overgrown, I'm not counting on adding to the hat trick anytime soon.