It Didn't Look Like This Today

Yesterday's blue, blue skies disappeared overnight. I awoke to a heavy overcast that turned into a moderately heavy fog as the temperature rose. I had to run some errands during the afternoon, and was very careful as I drove. Fog can play disastrous tricks on drivers if they are not alert.

If I were clever (and more photographically experienced) I suppose I could have managed to take some photos in the fog, but chose instead to post a more colorful shot I took earlier this week. The shrub pictured is Pyracantha and, like the holly tree of which I spoke in a recent post, was loaded with berries, more correctly called pomes, as I discovered from Wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia: Firethorn (Pyracantha) is a genus of thorny evergreen large shrubs in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Maloidae. They are native from southeast Europe east to southeast Asia, and are closely related to Cotoneaster, but have serrated leaf margins and numerous thorns (Cotoneaster is thornless).  The plants reach up to 6 m tall. The seven species have white flowers and either red, orange, or yellow berries (more correctly pomes). The flowers are produced during late spring and early summer; the pomes develop from late summer, and mature in late autumn.

While I was out and about, I made a run to the library to pick up a few mystery stories. I brought home a relatively new book, Cheating at Solitaire, by Jane Haddam. Over the years I've read most of the books in her Gregor Demarkian series; I find them well-crafted and entertaining. I also picked up several paperback books by an author I've not yet read, Rhys Bowen, an Agatha Award winner. These ought to keep me occupied for a while.