Last Days of Summer

Oh, how I love summer! The rainy season started a couple weeks ago, but we are getting one last splurge of heat. It should be in the 80s today. I noticed the sun glaring down my staircase for the last time and thought Oh, this looks like heaven smiling on me!!! Or summer saying good-bye!

Good-bye sunshine, until next year!!

"The Sunshine Song" (Jason Mraz)

This is one of my favorite songs from my idol, Jason Mraz:

 

Well sometimes the sun shines on other people's houses and not mine.
Some days the clouds paint the sky all gray
And it takes away my summertime.
Somehow the sun keeps shining upon you,
While I struggle to get mine.
If there's a light in everybody,
Send out your ray of sunshine.

 

I want to walk the same roads as everybody else,

Through the trees and past the gates.
Getting high on heavenly breezes,
Making new friends along the way.
I won't ask much of nobody,
I'm just here to sing along.
And make my mistakes looks gracious,
And learn some lessons from my wrongs.

 

Well sometimes the sun shines on other people's houses and not mine.
Some days the clouds paint the sky all gray
And it takes away my summertime.
Somehow the sun keeps shining upon you,
While I struggle to get mine.
A little light never hurt nobody,
Send out your ray of sunshine.

 

Oh, if this little light of mine
Combined with yours today,
How many watts could we luminate?
How many villages could we save?
And my umbrella's tired of the weather wearing me down.
 Well, look at me now.

 

You should look as good as your outlook,
Would you mind if I took some time,
to soak up your light, your beautiful light?
You've got a paradise inside.
I get hungry for love and thirsty for life,
 But much too full on the pain,
When I look to the sky to help me
And often it looks like rain.

 

As the sun shines on other people's houses and not mine,
And the sky paints those clouds in a way
That it takes away the summertime,
Somehow the sun keeps shining upon you,
while I kindly stand by.
If there's a light in everybody,
Send out your ray of sunshine.

 

You're undeniably warm, you're cerulean,
You're perfect in desire.
Won't you hang around
so the sun, it can shine on me,
And the clouds, they can roll away,
And the sky, can become a possibility?
If there's a light in everybody,
Send out your ray of sunshine.

 

 

Here is some concert footage of it. This is the best video I could find, but the beginning is a little blurry but it gets better after a minute as the camera adjusts. Sounds is great, though. 

 



Jason makes me happy! I think I'm going to spend the day and watch concert footage of my idol. That will be very uplifting!
 

Happy Flowers!

Gardening season is winding down. The weather is still nice, partly sunny and crisp, holding on to the very last days of summertime. Plants are starting to die back. The Roma tomatoes are finally ripening:

As well as the pumpkins and squash, in time for Halloween:

The rainy season is supposed to begin this Friday and the clouds are starting to move in. Once it starts it'll continue until next July! Still, my gigantic sunflowers brighten up the yard even without sun. Each one seems to have a personality of its own. I want to name them! With sunflowers all around, I don't think I'll miss the sun so much. I want to share their happy faces, especially for Evelyn who is fighting viruses.

Samantha (front) and Selena

Antoinette

Nancy

Evelyn

Virginia

 

Beatrice Maude, Bonnie Matilda, Brunhilda May
Bertha Mildred and Bonita Myrtle

 

 

Lisa and Janine

 

Persephone

 

Rebecca (front) and Rachel

 

Cassandra

 

 

What is this plant? It's an herb. I know it is because I stole the cutting from the herb garden of the local naturopathic school. Unfortunately, I didn't write the name down. Anyone know? I might have paid more attention had I known how beautiful it would look when it blooms!

Sunshine is Our Friend

Sunshine is blamed for skin cancer. How can something so natural be the cause of something so deadly? It doesn't make sense to me.

What does make sense are all those prescriptions that warn you to stay out of the sun because they will cause excessive sunburning. Hmmmm...well, what about all those chemicals in cosmetics? Lotions? Moisturizers? Hair products? What about the chemicals in our food? We start using chemicals on our bodies as babies. Slather on some baby lotion and dust the kid with baby powder, besides the soaps and shampoos. Smelling like a baby has positive connotations for many, unless, of course, you are chemically sensitive.  By the time we are adults our skin is massively polluted with sunburn-causing chemicals.  But it's sunshine that is blamed for bad health? I venture to think it's not the sun that's the problem, it's the chemical saturation of our skin.  Sunshine is getting a bad rap.

To save yourself from the evil that is sunshine, we are told we must use sunscreen. Sunscreen with a very high chemical, I mean, protection rating. SPF? Skin Poisoning Factor? I used to slather sunscreen on non-stop, layer upon layer, for fear of OMG! sun exposure. I am a redhead with blonde eyelashes and eyebrows. If anyone should be afraid of the sun, it's me. Someone is making a lot of money with the fear propaganda used to scare us into buying sunscreen. No sunshine allowed. No wonder everyone is deficient in vitamin D!

Since becoming chemically sensitive and giving up chemical-laden beauty products, I no longer get sunburned.   I have gone to outdoor festivals for hours at a time, no sunscreen, no hat, no sunburn. I garden for hours with no sunscreen, no hat, no sunburn. Last summer like a self-absorbed teenager I even laid out in my backyard with no sunscreen, no hat, no sunburn. If it's the sun, then why don't I burn now? Ponder, ponder, ponder....

Sun gives us light and vitamin D, nurtures plant growth, and warms the Earth. It is our friend.