From the dining room table, one could see through the dusty, large bay windows into the backyard and notice the brown, dying grass; in some places overgrown with crabgrass and in others with ragweed. It was as if the lawn had been neglected for months and perhaps years and never mowed. The sprinklers were turned off not because of water conservation due to the ongoing drought, but because of the indolence of the supposed male head of household. Dandelions also grew among the drought-tolerate plants such as poppy mallow with their magenta flowers that no longer bloomed, or among the lavender and grey santolina that grew in rows along the slowly dilapidating wooden fence, and also among a host of purple and yellow lantana. Small, brown desert ants walked in a meandering path looking for food
