I think every African garden I've been in has a magical capability to slow time. Maybe American yards have the same affect, but I suppose we don't sit in them long enough to feel the effect. It takes me back to my childhood to sit on a camp chair in the shade, feel the hot breeze, and believe that this day will last forever.
The stillness is a little deceptive, because it's only the larger creatures that stay in one place. Butterflies fly from one flower to another and the wood borer bees disappear and reappear from their holes in the support beams. Geckos and other lizards scurry around on the support beams, floor, and walls, and dash under the shade of ferns. Doves, bronze manikins, bee-eaters, orioles,and the occasional coucal visit the birdbath in the corner and retreat to the shade of the bushes.
A garden is a grand place to wake up slowly. I am savoring the days when I can crawl out of bed, make a cup of coffee, and sit in the quiet. Oh, it is not entirely quiet, given the school children, air con, and traffic on the road in the distance. But is a good place to think, observe, or just be still. I saw a lizard drinking water laying in a puddle under our air conditioner. I don't think I've seen a lizard lapping water before.
Summer is arriving in Mozambique. The grass is getting a sun bleached look despite the best efforts to water it. Temperatures are rising. Last Saturday, we slowly baked in 36 (96 F) degree weather, with a heat index of 46 (115 F). Most days are not quite that hot, but the typical temperature seems to be in the thirties. Mosquitoes are becoming bothersome. Deltaprim and mosquito nets are once again a part of my life. I don't mind the mosquito nets though. I think mosquito nets took the place of a canopy bed in my childhood fairy tale princess dreams.
And now it is October. I have thirty nine days more to savor the Southern Hemisphere.
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