Evening star? More like oncoming headlights.

I need to live in a siesta culture. I'm so drowsy. The Sacramento nights have finally arrived. We've been waiting all year for these soft warm nights. Eighty-four degrees at eleven-thirty, so you might as well stay out another hour. Walking home from the funnier Megan's late last night, I passed circles of people in their front yards and couples on their stoops and houses with all windows open. I saw a street man leave his cart to sit on the curb and gather in a cat who looked happy to see him. It was in front of a church and I loved the idea that at that church, even the cat ministers to the poor. I've seen owls, too.

Have you guys seen Venus the past month? That planet is ridiculously bright. Seriously, it distracts me if I am outside. If it were an engagement ring I would think it was overdone and tacky. The past couple nights it looked good next to the new crescent moon, but I'm getting a little embarrassed for it. 'Tone it down, hon. We see you.'

Summer shifts everything late for me. I eat first dinner when I get home at 6ish and real dinner at nine or ten. The warm nights are tempting me into staying up late and I can't sleep in in my east facing bedroom, so how do I magically turn us into a siesta culture? I love naps. I want to nap in the shade in a courtyard with a blue-tiled fountain. I want to drowse in a small room with my family making noise in the rest of the house. I want to wake up for these long gentle evenings, light until nine and a late sunset with that crazy star, and a cold dinner and my city still sitting up talking.