As for the fire I kept smelling last night, it must have been somebody burning wood in a barbecue. CalFire still isn't reporting any brush fires near enough to be smelled from my house. I suspect a barbecue because I can't imagine anybody was using their fireplace in such weather, and burning yard waste is not allowed during the fire hazard season— and it is definitely now the fire hazard season. I suppose it could have been a scofflaw burning yard waste, but I'm sure neighbors would have reported it immediately (most everybody in town is very fire conscious, especially since the evacuations a few years ago) and it would have been put out, but I kept smelling it for hours. I never smelled meat cooking, though. Maybe it was a vegetarian barbecue.
I almost took a long unintentional nap again this afternoon, but Portia woke me up after about an hour. It's nice that the overfed cat has finally done something to make herself useful. She got hold of a spent AA battery somewhere, and was batting it around the linoleum floor of the kitchen. When I got up to take it away from her she figured my intentions and ran off with it. I had to follow her around the house for several minutes before I finally got the thing and put it where she won't get it again. But then maybe I should let her have it every afternoon when I'd rather not nod off in front of the television. She certainly made an effective alarm clock of it.
It's a very nice evening now, and the cool, gardenia-scented breeze coming in my window is quite refreshing. Thanks to Portia I'll probably get to sleep fairly early tonight, and perhaps the scent of the gardenias will induce dreams of exotic gardens. I probably won't remember the dreams, of course— I almost never do— but it's nice to think I might have them.
