August now, dog days are done, summer is waning. Sweetening fruit is ripening on limber stems, groovy potatoes resting in garden soil, waiting to be dug, likely pondering being brushed, scraped, pealed and cooked, relishing being eaten, trusting they will be enjoyed. Recent full moon nights have been summer warm, starry clear and cosmic bright. Red fish, kokanee salmon, schooling, surfacing, swimming, wave after wave of the tasty fishes, their streamlined bodies cyclically turning blood red, life giving entities preparing to run the Lardeau River, finally spawn, then ceremoniously die. Winter and summer squash, cantaloupe melons too, are plumping up, ripening on sturdy vines, amended with all the wonderful sunshine energy and warmth we've enjoyed here in this valley over the summer. Whitetail deer quietly wander through the old orchard, every morning, each evening (no doubt through-out the night) foraging, munching fallen apples, nibbling green things, sleek handsome deer rearing up on strong back legs, scarfing green pears from lower branches of the giving tree. Raven families fly together these days, pecking out meager livings from this mountain landscape, scavenging whatever food they might sniff out, discover, then feast upon. Kootenay Lake waters have finally receded from that high water mark the big lake maintained for so many weeks this past June and July. Days are still wonderfully warm. Even today, with a bit of welcome rain (the tall forest is thirsty), my porch thermometer rose above 20 degrees Celcius. Nights, still pleasant, milky way bright, starry amazing, still absent of autumn cool, summer still helping my garden to grow. Out in the garden I've managed to live trap (relocating the invaders, yes that's one in the photograph above) ten furry little bank voles, voracious critters, so far ruining much of my summer vegetable crop, dang! If all goes well there won't be a killing frost until after Halloween, come November and winter days. If all goes well, nights will remain moderate, fairly warm, so that things can ripen up, not too much moisture and excessive wet that bring on fungal infections and rot, If all goes well it won't pour rain or monsoon over the next three months. Finally, if all goes well, no snow will fly until December's dark.
Gee I've almost wrapped up the rest of the year! However, in reality, there are weeks of summer left, autumn is merely a dream yet to come. With all the photos I've taken this summer I should have something of interest to put up here for an audience to see, hopefully I'll have some worthwhile words to post as well.
Until next time, let's think positive thoughts, have fun in daily life, be creative in all we do, keep the faith (whatever that faith may be, it's a blessing to believe in something), keep our vision clear and our eyes on the sky (one never knows what one may be lucky enough to witness), so get out there, breath in the fresh air and look at those magnificent stars. Remember every day is a new day, each and every one of us are located on this blue planet at this time for a reason. Cheers!
