July

Can you believe the month is almost over?  Truly, in just a few more days.  

Ah July—you came unexpectedly upon our days and now I see you already getting ready to depart; to never again come back to us.  You will be remembered down in history as another month of uncertainties and despair to many around the world.  You united us and divided us and here we are awaiting another you, another July and another ‘what would be next?’. 

I’m keeping my faith up and my thoughts together.  Hard times are ahead of us all, but our hearts are aglow in the hope we have believed.  We Christians are watching and gathering signs.  We watch, we see, and we wait.

And the garden?  Something pretty awful had happened to my roses; and I can’t tell if the damage was caused by nature itself or perhaps by me.  For upon seeing the mildew infestation on some of the bushes I proceeded to fumigate, and I might had put too much insecticide in the bottle and burned them all…

I tend to do that, thinking that more is better I would usually overact and the usual results are more damage than good.  In my defense, thought, I still have to doubt if I’m really the one to blamed for the damage.  For those yellow leaves on rose bushes don’t seem burned, and it looks more like an infestation of some kind, or some fungus decease than anything.  But who knows! 

I should cut them low—I should cut down every bush, but I don’t have the guts, and what a waste that would be.  Thus, I am leaving them untouched.  That’s what I’m doing.

 

 

I was looking at my self in the mirror this afternoon and for a moment my eyes were mom’s eyes and I was looking at myself and at her and she was looking at me and I was her, until tears filled both of our eyes, blurring the vision on the mirror.

The yarrow had flowered, and the Shasta daisy is taking over.  It is summer after all, and all the little faces in the garden are smiling and pondering if the sun adores them.

Camping at the “Lilac trees” campground, as I call this place...

I still remember last year’s penuries, the intense heat of July, the amount of people, their loud music and the particularly barrenness of the campground the Fisherman had chosen... I swore I never wanted to come back here again, if it wasn’t at that time of the year in early April when the lilac trees are in bloom and the intoxicating scent of its flowers pervades the campsite for miles around.  But this year the Fisherman chose right, and we got a place up on the higher grounds, outlooking the lake, were a small grove of trees and pines gives campers and gypsies their much-needed respite from the sun...

Campers were fewer this year too; with just the right amount of boats on the lake and children swimming in the afternoon, and birds seem to be everywhere this year, knowing perhaps that they have more liberty now with less people around, you find them flying from tree to tree everywhere, and the better part of it is, you can hear the too... their songs filling the airs and soothing your soul. 

I loved it here this year; and I’m so thankful—loved being able to sit outside under the shade of trees and just look down at the lake and at the boats going by and youth screaming with joy as boats race hauling them in their floating devices...

After our late lunch, we put our chairs out and brought our books, then I started my computer and wrote and wrote... and how peaceful it felt, and how I loved pouring out my heart into words for hours without end... until all of a sudden we noticed that the sun was coming down and that the people next to us were busy working on their dinner, and the Fisherman stood up and started making dinner too.  

We went for a walk around the campground right after dinner, and although it was still somewhat hot, I had energy enough to feel happy doing so...

When we came back to our camp we sat down again and again I wrote some more while the Fisherman read his new book... It was beautiful at this time of the day. Sunshine on the water made little twinkling stars and they shined and twinkle and the entire surface of the lake seem like a sky of glass.

...until the sun plunged behind those tall mountains in front of us and as soon as it did, temperatures plunged down as well, and it got a bit chilly... so sudden, that it was almost hard to believe... ah the power of the sun!

It was beautiful outside at this time of the day. 

We went inside and made sure our windows were all drown and that the gypsy caravan felt comfortable and cozy and then we read some more under the lights of lamps, before falling asleep.

I am feeling so much energetic these days, and I am so thankful for that... for a while now, my levels of energy had been slowly decreasing, and I have to wonder if this new energy had something to do with the vitamins 12 I started taking, and the spirulina, although I think it must probably has something to do with the inflammation medication that I’m also taking, which it is acting marvelous on my joins and movements.

So, by 6:30 am I was up, got dressed, and went outside to prepare our breakfast... it felt so good being able to do the things I used to and not having the Fisherman do them for me...

It was such a beautiful morning too, clear and with a wonderful blue sky above our heads.  We decided it was the perfect time for a little hike, and thus we hiked to the top of the hill, to where a small overlook stands and one can view the entire campground from there as campers start making there breakfast and the day wakes up. 

The hills were covered in wildflowers and it felt peaceful and quiet and I thought of how fortunate we were to still have peace in our midst and be able to enjoy the little things in life, which are really the big things in life, when others can’t or won’t.

Later that morning we droved down to the peer so that the Fisherman could fish.  We took our chairs and I read while the Fisherman fished or killed fish.  For he did.  He was too slow in removing the hook out on one fish, and although we tried saving the little thing, we couldn’t and I felt terribly bad for it...

We drove around the other side of the campground to take a look at future prospect sites and to see people’s motorhomes and campers and then came back to another cup of cinnamon coffee and toasts.  Ah, those awesome flavors of that ‘cinnamon’ coffee, which I have kept in our gypsy camper and only use when camping—every time I drink this coffee, I’m taken back to Cartagena, Colombia in memories, where we bought it last year in June when we visited Colombia for our nephew’s Alex’s wedding. 

It was such a beautiful place, and such beautiful morning that day, and every time I drink it every memory comes back...

I let the Fisherman cook our lunch; he likes doing that, so although I’m mostly vegetarian he made chicken fajitas... 

Then another night...

...and another beautiful morning...

The summer backporch

A few Saturdays ago while on a nice morning stroll through our neighborhood, we meet some very nice people on the other side of the neighborhood, and after commenting how I always have to stop by whenever I pass by their home to just admire her front gardens, we were invited in... and what a lovely backyard and gardens they had back there... 

I was so inspired, that after coming back home I felt like reworking my space and making some changes to my own little sanctuary… 

   

My sole intention was to only rearrange the chairs in the porch and make them into an “L”, to give the space a more aesthetic and cozier look. For some odd reasons, I placed all the sits in a straight long line against the entire wall, and they had stayed like that since the day the furniture arrived, last summer.

What I wasn’t expecting, thought, was to find the amount of dead leaves and gross stuff left behind by birds and winter winds behind those chairs. Which means, I was ‘forced’ to work. And thus, the deep cleaning began. The moving of furniture and things, the sweeping and the washing and hosing of things, and this and that…

After I finished cleaning and rearranging things there, everything looked so cute that I had to… I definitely had to, bring all my plants outside for the summer…

Which meant, more moving to do and more surprises to find, now inside the house… for oh, my friends, plants can accumulate a whole lot of dirt and creepy things in a house, if you let them be for a long while…

I even had to cleaned windows and window sills, not to mentions curtains and floors and furniture where all those plants had been. Yuck! It was like a little jungle in the making inside the house, including some its disgusting little creatures that’s what it was!  Then... 

... back to this

Immediately, everything opened up and the space looked so clean

and sunshine streamed in, in such beautiful, magical way...

On this small table, now only a bouquet or two from the garden...

I only wish I could leave all my plants outside the entire year. They look so pretty outside and they make the porch look and feel so cozy and jungley, and watering them is so much easier too!

I love love how cozy and comfortable our little porch looks now!

Warm days cozy evenings

I am liking this open-clean space so much now! Light is streaming through so nicely now, I don’t think I’d want to bring all those plants in ever again.

Unfortunately, this is not an option around here. And every plant here would have to be hauled back inside just in a few more months. Warmer days are so short here.  For now, I'll enjoy every moment here and just be happy!