Local color

I can't get my head fully northward without a few glances back south -- in this case, at the brilliant little fella who spent so many afternoons basking on the now-all-but-naked mussaenda off the porch.

Click on the photo and you'll appreciate the amazing beauty of his tiny eye, far more attractive than mine: I was out preening the oleander when a gust of wind slammed a leaf, point-first, into my left eye.

The white went blood-red. Maybe it's a trick I'll have to do in the fall, when the Fantasy Fest theme is "Villains, Vixens and Vampires."