Raindrops on the rosebay

How good it felt to have a little rain after such a long time. I went out early, answering my bodies craving for the smell of damp earth and wet trees. The air was heavy and humid along the river path and it smelled so good. I breathed it in deeply letting out a big SIGH.

I wasn't alone. The snails were loving it too. A jubilance of barn swallows swooped beneath the cloudy sky above and a woodpecker called in the woods behind me.

The late July plants were hanging messily over the path, some dried out, some going to seed and some going strong. This is the Wild Edge crew, reminding me another year has passed since the studio fire. It's been four now.

I always celebrate the rosebay willowherb at this time, thanking it for giving me strength at that difficult time, showing me that it was possible to grow again from the ashes and come back stronger. 

On this wet morning it was SPARKLING!

Rosebay Willowherb is also called ‘fireweed’. I used to think it was maybe because of the firey colour they leaves turn in the autumn but then I learned it’s because it thrives after a fire. It is also sometimes called bombweed as it grew in abundance on bombed out sites in the war.

Once I learned this, it became my ‘power flower’ and one that reminds me of all the good that came out of that difficult time.

Seeing it bejeweled in refreshing drops of rain was just what my body and brain needed after so many weeks of hot temperatures and dried out earth and the concerning news of so many uncontrollable wildfires burning right now across the world.

I watched a really interesting documentary following the story of an indigenous community in northern California who believe that fire can be good for the ecosystem, for its growth and renewal and that their carefully controlled burns at the right time actually prevent wildfires.

We really should have listened to their wisdom.

We’ve got to hold on to something so let’s find hope in regeneration, in new growth, in learning from our mistakes and finding new ways of doing things so we can cool down our precious planet.