Sunset at the quay.....

This is our "other" quay in town, Victoria Quay, looking up along the Stamp River, to the sun going down behind the mountains, letting me know I am missing more spectacular West Coast sunsets, these long, late-summer evenings................Nice to see some color in the sky, at any rate, much as I long for the white sand, stretching all before, the lap of the waves tickling my feet, the smell of the air, so pungent and salty-sweet...........sigh. Must count my blessings, I know, I know:)

This is a view of my front yard, or part of it, as seen from my front porch. Lovely to have a wide stretch of green around me, not be cooped up cheek-by-jowl in the city somewhere. My sister's house is just across the street, nice and handy for popping back and forth. That's a potting bench on the right, being taken over by the ivy, and the wooden platform down below is usually planted with tubs of flowers, but I didnt get to it this year. It's just as well, it is too hot, 36 C here today, which must translate into TOO HOT Fahreinheit! Everything planted is withering anyway. Including my dogs, one of whom is the black lump by the front fence, inthe distance:)

Out back there is a steep hill down to a grassy area by the creek, also withered at this time of year but rushing wonderfully in winter, and part of the annual salmon migration. We have a resident bear who ambles up and down it, fishing, in season. The sound of rushing, living water does much to satisfy my soul. I have a bamboo fountain on my porch. We make do:)

Jeff, I should mention, has now completed his round of chemo, responding to it very well. He lost his hair but had very few side effects. He had a rather bearable time of it, compared to many, and we are grateful for that. The doctor, who is a marvellous human being, says he has done wonderfully and now can be maintained on one chemo session every three months for two years. Hopefully that will keep the lymphoma in check.

Mr. Dog, my elderly wolf companion, is having a hard time of it, between his thirteen year old hips giving out, a lame front leg, and the heat, trapped as he is in his thick wolfish fur. I took him for a swim at the lake the other night, for which he was joyously eager. He swam gratefully back and forth in dignified, elderly fashion, then did a half-roll in the grass for old times' sake.

But I had a time getting him up the ramp into the car after. He prefers to leap, and cant any longer. The will outstrips the body, tell me about it:) I need to ask the vet to be somewhat prepared, but cant seem to have that conversation for fear I will fall completely apart at saying the words out loud. I may have to write her a note.

It is wonderfully quiet here this evening, after a few days of providing respite to difficult kids so their mothers can survive another week upon the planet. How I love it when my space reverts to being my space again. Lovely long hours of quiet, the hum of the computer, the whirr of the fan.................it is so hot here the birds dont sing, they hide till evening or early morning, when the temperature becomes something that sustains life once again. Two hours or more to go, by my calculation.

Blessings to all beings everywhere. My thoughts are with those in Pakistan right now......