Water

This weekend the weather got really hot for this side of the mountains, in the 90 Fahrenheit range. The house, in spite of window fans expelling heat from every room, was still 84 degrees at ten o'clock last night. It hit 110 degrees in our greenhouse. Thank fully, we have a pool. One of those 15 feet in diameter, four feet deep circular pools you can buy in a box at Costco and set up yourself. We have had one for years, and what a treat it is to get in it and swim, and get saturated in nice, clean cold water. I love it. Water. It is something a lot of us take for granted, the availability of it, the plenty of it, the just turn on the faucet and there it is of it. I love how it brings such pleasure and refreshes both the body and soul on hot days like this weekend.Last night, we were enjoying a nice barbecue dinner after having cooled off in the pool, and the calm of feeling fresh, added more pleasure to the beauty of all the bright flowers on the deck and patio, to the ability to enjoy the sweet summer breeze, the food, the joy of being a family. Every morning, I am out in the garden by 6:30, watering the many flowers, on the deck and in the windows, all the hanging baskets of fuchsia, the plants in the green house, the sunflowers , pole beans and pumpkins. It's such a sweet joy to water the garden, and see everything grow, and turn a lush, rich green. Water, without it, there would be no pool, no garden. My heart goes out to the people living through the terrible drought in the heartland of America. It hurts to see the pictures of entire fields turned to dust. The lack of water in the Horn of Africa is turning people's lives there into a nightmare, furthered by years of civil wars. Of course, too much water turns into a nightmare as well, as the people of Australia know, and Pakistan and China, and large parts of Europe and Russia. Water in the throes of too much power is terribly destructive. Tsunami and hurricanes are nothing to be desired. But water that flows just right, freely and abundantly, means life, prosperity, abundance, peace. Countries that know how to access the power of their mighty rivers, thrive. It is such a blessing to have water so plentifully as we enjoy it here, we should never waste it or take it for granted. And when we have the opportunity to be compassionate to those who are denied clean, abundant water, we should be, with every fiber of our grateful being.