August Sizzled & Days Fried

August 7, 2022 by libertatemamo 14 Comments

“The month of August had turned into a griddle where the days just lay there and sizzled.” – Sue Monk Kidd

This week was a slow week, a long week, where days flowed into nights like hot, sizzling lava, inching forward over the earth, scorching the ground, trying to find its way to a final outlet.

My mind has become somewhat monotone, and myself a wandering waif, grabbing cool mornings to search out sparks of color in the almost eternal layers of light brown outside. We all seek it; the birds, the insects and me, the shade of the trees and the sparse moisture of the few flowers that still bloom. A cycle of life that continues despite the stress and struggles of the world around.

Our time inside sparks dreams however, those of travel and adventures far, and I think the time may be nigh to scratch those itches. We have plans in motion, MANY plans, family and friends on the list, and (even) reservations in place which will hopefully mean a rather interesting end to the year. It’s these future plans that keep us going now, and the mind alive while the body waits.

In the meantime our garden is producing, albeit in limited amounts, and Paul is diving deeper into his beer adventures, while I help out various neighbors with their furry companions. For as we slow down for August so does all of France, the final grand vacation and big siesta of the year before things churn into motion again.

This is August, and this is what lies ahead.

The Weather, Always The Weather

It almost feels like Groundhog day here on the blog when I talk about the weather these days, but what can you do. It’s still hot, it’s still dry…and it’s going to continue, oh my.

Drought alerts are popping up like flies these days as more of France edges into the “crisis” zone. We’ve skirted the harshest restrictions here in our area, primarily because we’re right next to the Garonne River whose mighty flow never seems to cease.

At least until now.

A new alert popped up just a few days ago warning that the Garonne had fallen below it’s critical threshold level, and that the water dams in the Pyrenees had to be opened to keep it flowing. Not only that, but only 42 days of dam reserves were left before this fail-safe effort would run out. 42 days!!! For a river which supplies 97% on the drinking water supply for the big city {{gulp}} that’s quite a shock.

It seems inconceivable, but in fact over 100 communes in France have already run out of drinking water and are now having to get supplies trucked in. An unprecedented response to an absolutely unprecedented drought, now billed as the harshest that France has ever seen in its history.

We’re not without drinking water yet (thank goodness), but as of next week we’re going into “alerte renforcée”  which means we can’t use water outside for anything really, except our vegetable garden, and we have to limit watering that to before 8AM or after 8PM. To be honest that’s pretty much exactly what we’ve been doing for the last few months, having already left the majority of our garden to fight for itself. So, no big changes for us….at least not yet.

Let’s just hope those taps keep flowing, and rain, oh may it rain….that moist stuff can’t come soon enough!

The August Effect

While our weather may be doing unexpected things, the rest of French August most certainly is not.

This is the official month of the “fermeture exceptionnelle” where businesses, shops and pretty much everyone takes off with little notice to enjoy their well-earned (and will-be-taken-regardless-of-anything) vacations. So repairs and emergencies of any kind are likely to be delayed, and getting anything done is….well…iffy.

It took us a few years to fully clue into this one, and it’s only recently begun to make profound sense. In fact, according to my fabulous Science of Well-Being course, taking vacations and using that time (and money) for experiences rather than things may be part of the reason Europeans generally score so much higher in their happiness scores than most other countries.

Despite all the hassles I’m here for it now, really I am. I get you, France. Keep doing you thing.

Planning Of Future Adventures Has Started

In the spirit of getting more happiness into our own lives, experience planning for us has started for the rest of the year. Unlike most folks however we have the luxury of waiting for August madness to be over, so we’re targeting Sept through the end of the year for our own personal pot-o-adventures to begin.

I don’t want to give too much away, just out of superstition, but I can divulge a few things.

In Sept both Paul and I have got solo-trips on the horizon (one of us plays, while the other stays at home with Polly). He’ll be taking a quick escape the first two weeks after which I’ll hijack the car to the UK where I plan to attend a University reunion dinner, my first in over….20 years?

It’s going to be fascinating, not just to catch up with all my old alumni friends, but also to re-experience the country I once called home (at least for 3 years or so). Also I’ve got two weeks to spare so I might do a little southern island mini-tour where I swing by Wales, then perhaps circle back to Newhaven (where I take my ferry home). For my UK readers, if you have any specific tips on this route, DO lemme know!

Then in Oct we’ve got family and friends coming over, in that order, with some unique and new outings in mind for that. Finally in Nov and Dec we plan to whiz off for a few months with Polly too, assuming all goes to plan.

It’s a packed schedule and I have to admit I’m looking forward to it. Travel and new experiences feed my soul.

Productions Of Our Garden Continue

While we wait and cook in the heat, we’re trying to make the most of the one thing that is getting water in our garden, and that’s our vegetable patch.

It’s been challenging to keep everything going during the canicules, but we are getting some decent produce out particularly tomatoes, peppers, onions and chili peppers. The latter are going bananas actually, one of the few plants we have that really loves the heat and we’re about to get masses of super-potent chili’s that we’re not really sure what to do with. Just dry ’em and store ’em? Create chili oil? Make keg-loads of salsa and essentially have it on tap? If you have any good recipes or chili ideas, please send them my way!

Our veggie garden is super small, but it’s been supremely satisfying to grow the few things we have, and it’s all miles tastier than almost anything I’ve tried before (farmers markets included). Creating stuff, physical or otherwise, really does bring happiness.

Song Is In The Air

With all this dryness and harshness and heat, it’s easy to feel defeat.

I have to admit that days on end shuttered inside really do get to me. But then there are those moments….the mornings where the air is just cool enough to sit on the back terrace and I sit and listen to nature’s song. I have faith in these moments and hope for the future for despite the dryness and death all around, LIFE is in the air.

This astonishes me, in fact it blows me away.

We’ve made a concerted effort over the past years to re-wild the majority of our land, and we’ve let a lot of things die as the heat dictates, allowing nature to chose what will survive. Amazingly, within that battle has emerged an incredible amount of life.

We have at least 10 different types of bees that visit us everyday, 6 different types of butterflies and so many birds they create a cacophony of noise every morning when we sit outside. Our two little water baths that we fill diligently everyday are visited by just about every non-human in the neighborhood and some of the birds (I swear) even follow us when we walk Polly in the morning.

When I sit and meditate on this, I marvel at what can be created despite everything we may do to try and destroy, and that is the spark that gives me hope. Let’s hold on to that over the next weeks, shall we? And then maybe we’ll all make it out the other side OK.

A slow blog week my dear friends, so I’m sorry about that. That said I’m super excited for those of you that have joined my happiness journey (from my last blog) and would love to hear how you’re getting on? Also, I do hope it’s not as hot and dry where you are, but do share your stories. Oh, and chili recipes please, if you have them!