Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We took a walk around the reservoir this morning.  Every time I go there are fewer birds, the hills are dryer and we saw a lone deer down by the highway, no doubt searching for some greenery to eat.  Even the turkeys, and there are at least two dozen of them, were not under the trees but probably high up in the denser, darker forest.  Drought season, and even the water in the reservoir doesn't mitigate the feeling of the thirstiness of nature.  This is the time of year when it's hottest here - Indian Summer - and there may be two months or more before any rain falls.  Everyone's jumpy, and the air is still not clear from the earlier fires around the state, so we have every reason to be.  We bought succulents at the nursery after our walk, and it's hard to purchase plants that need water, because we struggle enough with the azaleas, camelias and hydrangeas.  Only the geraniums keep us in color right now, and the few roses we have.  This is our present moment and our future.  Rain, not so much.