The summer heat and drought took its toll on my purple flowers...but I'm happy to report they are hanging in there; I discovered two blossoms taking shelter amid the weeds at the bend in the road, stretching high enough to catch some sun, but staying low enough not to get scorched. I'm sure there's a lesson about survival here for us somewhere...
Frankie thought about joining me and the dogs on our walk yesterday morning. He followed us quite a ways down the road, squawking the whole time (probably "Wait for me!" or "Slow down!"), before changing his mind and heading back to the house...
"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." (John Muir, American naturalist and writer, 19th century)
There are no real mountains around us, but if you climb to the top of the hill behind our house, the hill country unfolds down to a glimmer of the lake in the distance. I'm glad the cooler weather is here - it's just too hot to climb the hill very often in the summer. I guess I'm a little like the purple flowers, taking shelter in the shade and my air-conditioned house, staying low enough here in the hollow not to get scorched.
But even from my back deck, I can look down upon the clearing and our little pond, and feel "good tidings." I see the sunshine on the trees, feel the freshness of the wind, watch the storms rumbling in from the safety of my porch, and see the hillside across from me blaze orange and red in the autumn. Nature's peace.
