Entering a new month

So, June of 2007 is behind us and we enter July in full force of summer, which is our dry season. We are now eight days without rain and I've returned to my daily mantra of filling five-liters plastic jugs with water from our home in the city for the purpose of watering plants, trees and palms around the reception center. It's much like chanting Ave Maria with a rosary because it calms the soul and allows my mind to wander off to less mundane matters.

A new summer and a new fence and gate for one of the entrances to the Bosque forest. The old gate was one of those heavy duty wooden structures that went up in the air some five meters and wide enough for a truck to enter. The wood was maçaranduba (Manilkara hubert), which has the reputation of lasting forever. Believe me, it's not true. Termites will begin their lunch with the softest wood they can find and eventually get around to eating up the hardest. It took them about 20 years to do the job but they did it in good style. I reserved the final act of pushing the gigantic columns over myself for fear that they might fall on visitors. Cleuson, my part-time helper built the new gate out of maçaranduba slats left over from another construction job and then painted the whole thing with these very striking colors. It probably won't last as long as the old gate but it cost very little and .... nothing is forever.