with July past and the monsoons visiting

It seems to us like we've seen quite a few double rainbows this summer, from Kansas to NM. And then this one happened, only a single, but in a full arc over the sky...from the mountains to the mesa, against the cloudy sky over our adobe. It was so bright it didn't seem quite real...

A lot of my feeling fortunate moments are around my garden. This morning I was in the garden cutting handfuls of thyme, in order to dry them for the winter. The aroma of the cut thyme, and the sage (a bush of sage with flower stalks coming up to my waist) which sits next to the thyme, along with the smell of the wet rained upon dirt...and I felt lucky to have such perfume in my life. Then cutting my bouquet of flowers, which I could do each day if I wanted...thank goodness for land and gardens. 

The flower bed just outside our house is now in its second year. I knew when I first planted it, that it would mean I could see blooming flowers from the living room couch, and that it would make me smile. I was right, of course.

Now into August, the warm sunny mornings turn into cloudy afternoons, with monsoon rains sweeping through and drenching the forests and desert. The smell of wet pine, sage & chamisa fill the air. 

Having injured my foot a few weeks ago (no more hopping over the acequia in flip flops for me) I'm still limping and having some pain. (One of the ladies I work with saw me on crutches and said, oh you hurt your pata! -- I love learning spanish words from hearing them used rather than reading them in a textbook -- if only I could go back to college and have this understanding--"pata" by the way really means "paw" it is just used as an cute nickname for foot)  So walks have been on hold, as well as any late summer hikes. It is a too bad way to spend the end of summer. But I have to remind myself it is better than how I was feeling this time last year.