one scoop or two?

It's crepe myrtle time here in the valley and all the trees and shrubs are bursting into eye-popping, mouth-watering bloom. The pinks and purples and reds and lilacs are dazzling.On our walk this morning we saw these luscious blossoms throughout several neighborhoods.

The plants look quite ordinary and uninteresting for 10 months of the year. Then, as the heat in the valley rises, POP! Out come these incredible little blossoms.

This beauty lasts for 6 weeks or so, and then the florets dry up and fall off. Our neighbor to the back has four or five tall myrtle trees in the pale pink color. A feast for they eye.

So what'll it be? Raspberry, grape, strawberry, or pink grapefruit ice?

On a more mundane but nonetheless delicious topic, last night was Part I of a three part BBC production of "Wallender." The series is based on the character in Henning Mankell's detective novels. Our (anti)hero, Kurt Wallender, is played by Kenneth Brannaugh who has all the moves as described by Mankell. He's overweight, over worked, a tad seedy, messy, takes his work far too personally, and is in a marital mess. I have read several of the Mankell books, all set in and around Stockholm, Sweden. After two or three they become a bit formulaic, and good old Kurt makes the same mistakes over and over, but what's not to love about a rumpled Swedish do-gooder. This is not Brannaugh doing Shakespeare, but he's very good. Episode 2 is next Saturday evening. Consult your local PBS station for date and times.

Speaking of crime scenes, I report for jury duty tomorrow morning at 9 AM. For the sake of justice and the rule of law, let's hope my panel is excused early. The Sotomayor hearings are sure to be far more interesting than anything the Yolo County DA can come up with.