Week 35, Project 365

Can you believe August is almost over?! Soon all the fun-in-the-sun photos will give way to school related shots and autumn scenery.

And here in Argentina we are gearing up for an early spring, with scorching temperatures this week. After a brief hiatus from flower photos, y'all are about to be subjected to more of them again. What can I say? This is my life and I love flowers.

Looking forward to seeing how everyone else closes out their final week of August in Project 365. As for me, they're almost all outdoor photos. Beginning with this one of Andrea taken on Monday. Rather a windy day as you can tell! It was still windy on Tuesday and we saw half a dozen out on the lake taking advantage of perfect kite surfing conditions. The new toilet paper has this little puppy every fifth block, sitting next to the stop sign. Which just cracks us up... is this a not-so-subtle way of saying "take this much toilet paper and no more"? We have honest-to-goodness, real live peas! They blend in so well with the leaves we didn't even notice them until the other day. This is a photo of my computer screen on Wednesday. It was 88°. AT 6:00 IN THE EVENING. It was in the 90s earlier on Wednesday. You think maybe winter is over?

[By the way, took that while sitting on our back patio so technically it qualifies as an outdoor shot.]

Blossoms on our peach tree -- gorgeous! I'm so excited because the tree is ABSOLUTELY COVERED with them. NOTE: I had the previous photos ready to auto post before our trip to Sta. Rosa because I didn't think I'd have a chance to post while there. The weekend didn't go quite as planned and I've added the following photos...

On the way to Sta. Rosa we did a quick drive around Alta Gracia where we stopped to take this photo. Che Guevara lived here as a boy and they've turned the house into a small museum. This photo is for the family, who will recognize Alberto and Delia. We ran into them Friday evening when we went to Tio Rico's for a quick supper. Saturday morning we went into Sta. Rosa to a cyber cafe and then to Belgrano to a carnicería but while returning to the house we encountered heavy smoke. We knew there were wildfires but didn't know exactly where or how bad, but the smoke indicated they were pretty close. When we got home we closed all the windows to keep the heat and smoke out. It was oppressively hot at 99° and combined with high winds, conditions were ideal for wildfires. It doesn't help that it's been at least a month since we had any rain so things are dry as tinder.

It wasn't long after that the power went out and, despite closed windows, we could still smell the smoke. The sky was also a very weird color, an orange tinged gray. Without t.v., radio or internet we had no way of knowing what was going on so headed out to see what we could learn. What we learned was that there were roadblocks in every direction. Working our way along back roads we made it to Belgrano, seeing fires all along the way. We weren't able to learn anything from anyone, including the fire fighters. It didn't sound hopeful that they were going to be able to get the fires under control any time soon though, so we made the decision to go back to the house, pack up and head back to Carlos Paz.

Easier said than done. We had to take dirt roads to the house to avoid roadblocks, the power was still out so we used a flashlight to pack up, and closing up the house always takes a while. And, of course, we had to work our way around roadblocks again as we headed home to Carlos Paz.

The house is on the south side of Sta. Rosa. This is the scene that greeted us on the north side of town. The fire had worked its way almost to the highway here. I know this is a terrible photo, but it was the best of the bunch. I just wanted you to have an idea of what it was like. As we turned off Route 5 a few miles past Belgrano, Andrea said "Wow! Look back!" We turned around and this is what we saw, fires all along the mountain ridge as far as we could see in either direction. Like the whole Calamuchita Valley was on fire. Obviously praying for rain, for the safety of those fighting the fires, and all who live in its path. Very thankful to be home in Carlos Paz with lights, internet, and most especially air you can breathe.