Another warm and sunny day, also the day of this month's full moon, a month when it looks a little larger in the heavens because it is a little closer to earth in its elliptical orbit. It's called the Flower Moon because this is the month which is arguably the best for flowering plants. The moon sets on my local horizon at about six in the morning at the moment. An hour or so earlier, it emerges from shadow to paint the bedroom with moonlight when there are no clouds. I don't bother with curtain closing, as the external shutters are set just right to let me enjoy this early light. I then tend to drift off to sleep again until it's time for BBC Radio Four's Thought for the Day, if I'm not already up and making breakfast.
This morning as I lay there pondering, I had this idea for videoing the discursive prayer I am now in the habit of writing weekly for the website, using the backdrop of the sun rising behind the trees over the arroyo/torrent beside the house. By the time I'd found a suitable position for the camera it was a bit later than I'd planned and the result wasn't quite as satisfactory as hoped for. A car passed by while I was recording. It didn't drown me out fortunately, and when I listened to it, I decided not to re-record it, simply because the passing car is a small sign of return to normality, and that's what I was praying about.
I'm getting the hang of the simple editing app to prepare a video for upload to YouTube, and today's didn't take long. After breakfast I starting having ideas for next week's bible study, and started writing them, rather than getting out early in the morning time slot permitted for walking. It's a pity that my use of time can be erratic. I do have routine, but it's quite flexible, as I like to work on fresh ideas whenever they emerge.
In the afternoon, I thought I'd do some garden tidying. The prickly colonising plant which spreads in the subsoil and then climbs over any plant it can get started on starts to spill over from lawns and flower bed on to the path, and gets more annoying. It's hard work to remove, as I learned last time I worked at ground level. Today I tackled the raised flower bed, which has a hibiscus bush in one corner entirely covered with this spiky horror, and the result was satisfying. Removing tiny shoots in the raised bed is important before trying to sort out weeds from established bushes and plants. I wish I knew more about gardening!
While I was donning gardening gloves I noticed there was a gecko in the bottom of a plastic bucket in the gardening closet. It seemed unable to climb the sides and escape. Geckoes normally have no trouble climbing vertical walls and running upside down across ceilings due to the extraordinary physical properties of their foot pads. Their adhesive power is due to microscopic static electricity charges enabling them to attach to other surfaces. Could it be that the plastic surface of the bucket didn't or couldn't hold a static charge I wonder? I turned the bucket on its side to let the creature escape and hide, and wondered what impact being unable to scale the bucket side would have on it.
I walked again before supper, exploring the edge of the ravine in the stretch of woodland between it and the road. Near the road crossing it's about fifteen metres deep, 400 metres long it's twice that with dangerous steep edges. Just before the road enters a the next urbanizacion there's a place which specialises in breeding poultry, with various species of hens, geese, ducks, guinea fowl, turkey and even peacocks visible when you pass by. I hadn't realised just how large the place is until I found one of its boundary walls, running down into the ravine enclosing an extensive area where various fowls are being kept, also some small cattle. It explains why the cries of the peacock can be heard a lot closer than seems reasonable given that it's almost a kilometre away by road. The sound travels up the ravine, along with the sound of several breeds of cockerel in the early morning. Intriguing!
After supper, and chatting with Clare, I started work on the Sunday service and sermon. I went out on the terrace just before bed and saw the full moon climbing up above the trees opposite. I wish I could identify the sounds of the night birds I hear. Definitely not poultry!
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