The scents magnify

Night blooming cereus two nights ago, opening up as the moon brightened a dark greenhouse and this morning, the first gardenia opens. I am delighted and intoxicated. The magnolia still beckons me to pull a bloom to my nostrils as does the frangipani on the deck. 

Meanwhile in New Orleans, tropical storm Barry (which is just off the mouth of the river) threatens to inundate the city. It is a slow moving storm and the river is swollen from the rains in the midwest - levees will be challenged. Pirogues on Coliseum street in front of Commander's Palace just blocks from where I once lived, flooding before Barry, two days ago. What will it take for our government to mount a serious national effort to confront climate change? GOT to vote this dispicable President out!
This morning's harvest from the garden:

July, the longest day behind us

Rain has promoted many many blooms, the smell I have to bend a branch to inhale, delicious. This morning a walk to the river, where the tale of the day before is marked in the further erosion of the bank from 2.3 inches of rain. The garden benefits from Robin's pony, Joey's droppings - big green tomatoes, I anticipate red with lust. I have been enjoying cucumbers and squash and onions (better than in years past) and Blue house beans and swiss chard. We prepare for Pearl's 11th birthday - I am filling a piñata. 

I have been meeting with a counselor in hopes of managing my anxiety (anticipatory), a wonderful young woman who reminds me of my friend Diane - (she has a whimsical manner of dressing - all dressed in black one time, sort of vampish - costumes like - as if trying on personalities perhaps inspired by her clients ?). We are just beginning a therapy that goes by the initials: EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing). It brings up past moments of stomach unsettling events...and it has made me more sensitive to the feelings. I am more often than I thought of queasy stomach. Hoping to make traveling easier and sharing my kitchen a breeze! ah!