"calma"

I love these hot lingering afternoons of August.

A visit to Lugar do Olhar Feliz, also took me to Alentejo Terra Mae...

Il n’y a pas de cigales en Alentejo.
Quand vient la chaleur, vient
aussi le silence.
...ici la suffocante chaleur des après-midi d’été se
dit « calma » : le calme.

I would have to say that one of the reasons I garden is just that: calma! Even when I'm head down, pulling up endless weeds, wondering why I bother because I'm sure the weeds will all bounce back by tomorrow, I always end up feeling some sense of meditative calm about it all. This is the cycle of life. We work, plants grow, we eat some, the seasons change, we reminisce during the winter about the summer...

At this moment, my gaze is drawn outside by the flicking movements of the hummingbird, hovering to drink the nectar from the tubular flowers of the sinningia 'Apricot Bouquet' in the pots on the patio. A cicada is buzzing its song somewhere in the orchard. The grass is getting long. I should have mowed it two days ago. Ah well. One just can't do it all: calma.