It was 105F at 2:30 this afternoon. And summer is still almost two months away. It is supposed to cool off over the coming week. My air conditioning is feeble after all the years of use but it's still a help, if I stay really close to it. Patrick has been wandering from place to place all day trying to find some place cool enough to sleep. But he is back to eating. No more treats for him.

I went to the Pasadena Showcase House of Design yesterday. We had to park at the Rose Bowl and take a bus to the site. Usually the buses are small, tram-sized affairs. Not this year. They were almost Greyhound size. The house was so far from the parking I guess they decided to make fewer runs and deliver more people at a time. Anyway, it was an interesting ride. Very curvy, narrow road through was passes for countryside. The house was big and overdecorated as usual but there were some worthwhile ideas and the accessories were spectacular. One of the designers is a customer at Skein so that was special. And I know a couple of the docents so that gave it a little extra "up close and personal" slant.

Lots of excitement this afternoon though. I heard some men shouting outside and when I looked out the kitchen window I could see a couple of them starting to go at it. Five or six men had "cornered" a man in our front yard. There's a low fence around the yard and he kept trying to get away but the other guys kept him where he was. About that time four or five police patrol cars showed up. They immediately took the guy down and handcuffed him. I'm not sure what happened that caused the ruckus but it seemed the guys outside the fence had chased the other guy from somewhere around the corner and there was apparently someone else involved who had taken off in a different direction. So one of the patrol cars took off that-a-way. All this commotion lasted through a couple of loads of laundry. The last time I looked there were only a couple of cars left, but something was going on down at the end of the street by where the sauntering students cross.

And even more excitement. I went to Tommy's tonight for the first time ever. Tommy's Hamburgers has been a landmark in Los Angeles since 1946. They're famous for their chili fries and, I guess, for their hamburgers. A new one opened a couple of months ago, about a block from where I live. I've never been tempted to go to Tommy's, until today. I have no idea why, but I was almost obsessed. So after I finished my laundry I went over there. I can sort of see what the big deal is, but I don't think I'll need to go back. It is super-cheap though. Cheeseburger, chili fries and small soft drink, $5.25, and no tip.

Oh, about the knitting. I finished the spring stripe socks. I am almost done with the first sleeve of the Cotton Classic sweater and I started another pair of socks. If it's cooler in the morning I'll try to get some pics.