This summer is too hot

It's the end of July. The weather here is just terriblly hot this summer. The temperature has been going up to 38 degree c. these days. It seems that we are really facing with a global warming. It is something we've never expect that the temperature goes up over 30 degree c even in summer. When I was a kid, summer heat was hot in the midst of the day, but durable. The overall weather in our country seems getting so to speak, "wild" in terms of rainfall and thunderstorm and to our surprise, tornedo.
These have brought some serious damages in local areas all of a sudden.
Cicadas in our house garden are busier than usual in chorus from morning till night and that makes us feel this summer is surely much hotter.

Blackberries

I lived with my husband's mother who is 92 years old. She is generally in good shape and enjoys taking care of the house garden. She had quite an amount of blackberries this year. She seems to enjoy picking them up every morning and she comes back in the kitchen with a basketful of berries. Now it' my turn to make them to jam and syrup. I prefer syrup to jam. Syrup makes a cold beverage with soda or a topping for yogurt. I can use it in anyway I like. Anyway it's such a treat from our garden.

Eco craft

This is a basket made of colored tapes. You just weave basket out of those paper tapes just as you do out of pieces of bamboo. Weaving baskets with these tapes is now very popular among women these days. We call this new handmade "eco craft", since those paper tapes are mostly made from recycled paper.
Well, I wove this small basket for the first time. I have a friend who is very good at handcrafts and she is so much absorbed in it now. You will be surprised to see how many baskets and boxes she wove at home. They are so colorful and adorable. So finally I felt like I might as well try for it, if she help me out. With another friends of hers, we had a chance to make it today. It was really fun.
Maybe I'll ask her to let me try another one.

positive aspect of the rainy weather

Through June to July, we have a rainy weather so called "Tsuyu" in Japan. Strictly speaking, it starts from May in the most southern part of Japan, Okinawa and the rain front ends up to the northern part of Japan but not as far as Hokkaido by the end of July. During the rainy season, the weather is humid and dump with occasional rainfall under the thick clouds. Though it is somehow a unpleasant season, it has several positive elements as well. The sufficient amount of rainfall blesses our land for water. It help all the plants grow. Hydrangea especially symbolizes the rainy season as one of the welcoming aspects of the season. People enjoy all kinds of Hydrangea flowers growing in their house gardens, visiting public gardens, looking at them along the sidewalks and at the historical sight spot like ancient temples and shrines.
The other day I visited one Buddhist temple in the neighboring town. There you can enjoy more than 10 thousand Hydrangea trees of various kinds with full of flowers at the best.