Ate a tomato sandwich for breakfast while I pondered in the porch swing this morning. Little odd to eat that, I know, but I’ve been anticipating eating that tomato for several days. That plant is pretty pitiful, a big stalk and few branches, but it’s covered in tomatoes. The tomato was delicious. I picked two of them. One had a few tiny teeth marks or maybe a bird pecked places on it. I just cut around them.

The day was hot and I had the box fan on the porch blowing on Penelope and me. Came back in the house after lunch. Clouds bubbled up angry and dropped a deluge of rain. The rain poured from the clouds and the sun came out before the rain stopped. Everything was so green and clean, pretty in the bright clear sunlight. Looked like the Earth was smiling, thankful for the cool heavy shower. I watched the steam come up from the road and roof tops. Almost looked like smoke in the neighborhood. If the grandchildren were here we’d call it alien fog.

Went out to the porch after supper and the horizon was covered in blue and purple rain clouds. Spots of blue sky peeked through in several places. The sun was huge and blinding white as it slipped down for the night. The song birds were scarce and the evening cardinals were finishing their feeding for the day. Mother Earth was going to bed for the night.

I wonder if the heat bothers birds. Research says birds suffer in the heat just like we do. They don’t have sweat glands so their only relief is shade and water. I need to move my other bird bath to the shade of the oak tree. Sometimes that water is as warm as bath water. There is a creek in my yard behind the bamboo forest. I know the birds enjoy cool water there.

Been reading quotes from Rose Kennedy today. Two of them I really love. The first quote is, “Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?” The birds in my yard enjoyed the feeders after the heavy rain today. They were singing and flittering around. We all weather storms in our lives. Rose Kennedy lost four children in her lifetime but kept living and embraced the sunlight that eventually flooded her life. We can’t just give up when life goes tragically astray and we shouldn’t feel guilty about finding love and laughter again. Our loved ones would want us to be happy.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Time heals all wounds.” Mrs. Kennedy elaborated on that sentiment and said, “It’s been said time heals all wounds. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” What a realistic way to describe a mother’s loss of a child.

“I am not going to be licked by tragedy, as life is a challenge, and we must carry on and work for the living as well as mourn for the dead,” — Rose Kennedy.