Peace

M. left to take her grandchildren home, leaving me here by myself.
Heaven. 
I have a dog for company, and to reassure me when I hear Noises in the Night. I am a town girl, after all. But it's much, much quieter here. No aggravated dogs yapping, no feral cats slinking about looking for a flower bed to bury messes in. No drunks hollerin' and best of all, no sirens. If a car goes by on the nearest roadway you notice the sound, and most of the planes that pass overhead are so high that you can't hear them. Just a little red twinkle in the night sky, or a contrail by day. We are not in the wilds. There are neighbors here and we are separated from one another by some acres, and some half-hearted fences. Yesterday, somebody's horse was taking itself for a walk along the road.
I heard mice frolicking under a tarp outside the kitchen.

And the sky! From Santa Fe, Texas, which considers itself to be "country" , there is so much light that one can only see the very brightest of constellations and only the brightest stars of those. Out here there are so many visible stars that I cannot even pick out the constellations I know. I can see the Milky Way. Meteors pass overhead often, and aren't the exciting novelty that they seem to be in town. M. has an upstairs deck for viewing and I am really anticipating the Perseids next month.

M. took us into town for a Navajo Taco and on the way back we saw some elk grazing near the road. At night we heard the coyotes barking and crying to one another. I was surprised to find out that they bark...I thought not but I was probably thinking of dingoes. Plenty of cottontail bunnies around, too. The flies are rather bothersome but there are no mosquitoes at all. What luxury to sit outside in the evening unmolested.

Speaking of Luxury: my car is pulled right up to the porch, my paints and brushes and even books! out on the porch, too. No humidity and no one to steal things. I got up early and got some painting accomplished. I have a whole month, I can foresee getting lots of work done. It does get hot in the daytime but as the atmosphere is very dry it doesn't seem unbearable, I do have to make a point of remembering to drink a lot of water. 

Here's a little video of hummingbirds. They roost in the trees by the feeders and are busy all day. Their wings sound like insects. They're unafraid, too, come and check me out when I'm sitting on the porch with my coffee.