Diary of My Country Life-July 3rd, 2026

The original source of this blog: https://www.lotusandmichael.com/blogs/diary-of-my-country-life

07/03/2026 Friday 78-101F Sunny

Last night we had a clear full moon. This morning when I sat in the courtyard at 5am, it still hung in the southwest over the eave. Its color was pale yellow against greyish blue sky, very much like a faded version of the moon taken by me in my hometown last April.

Today will be a hot day, the hottest of the year so far. About 7:30 when I hung laundry in the back yard, I could feel the heat of the morning sun sizzling my skin, not even to mention how fierce it will be in midday and afternoon.

But hot days have their advantages too. After applying my homemade milk-water spray to my herbaceous peonies (to stop the spread of powdery mildew), I don’t plan any outdoor activities until late afternoon, time for me to water my vegetables. All the meals will be simple and effortless; I can give myself enough excuses to live on bagel, cream cheese, beer, and watermelon only. Oh, watermelon, that sweet juicy striped guy! All year round they are piled at the corner of groceries and I ignored them; but in such a day like today, they are my number one desire!

My favorite way of enjoying a watermelon is cut it into half and dig into it with a spoon. So, the skin of watermelon becomes a natural bowl to hold all the juice from my digging. Nowadays the seedless watermelons are much more popular than the seeded ones, but somehow both my husband and me prefer the latter which can only be found in our local farmer’s market. And choosing a watermelon is my job—find the female ones first which usually have a curly tail (the vine of the melon), also the stripes are more blurred compared to the males; then gently tap on it with two fingers and listen to the sound: If it sounds crispy and firm, it should be a good one. 

I learnt these lessons from my father; the village where he was born produced a special kind of fragrant melons due to the sandy soil; the local people named it “Midnight Sweetie”, which means the sweetness of the melon will linger in your mouth for a whole day even if you wake up at midnight you can still sense it.

They were very good melons; each one basically could be considered a honey pot. I had them often during the summers in my childhood. But since I left my hometown, I couldn’t find them elsewhere.

My sister’s house is in a suburb of Shanghai near the East Sea, where watermelons grow named “8424”. That cultivar has very thin skin, and is very sweet, especially the littler ones. Last April when I was there, my sister cut such a watermelon for me. Everything about it was so perfect that I took a photo of it and now that photo is still in my phone. 

I love all the beautiful things; I love to keep them as long as possible either in the real world or in my memories. Perhaps that’s why I love to record those moments—by writing, by photographing, by painting, and by videoing. 

Another advantage of these days is the World Cup. Now it’s in the round of 32; the day before yesterday the US team beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, and yesterday Croatia lost its battle with Portugal. I started to watch the matches at the end of the group stage when Norway met France. So far among all the matches I watched (though I missed many other good ones too), I enjoyed Croatia vs Ghana, Netherlands vs Morocco, and USA vs Bosnia and Herzegovina the most. They might be not the strongest teams, but in those matches they were tough, and determined. Yes, I know everyone wanted to win, but not everyone showed their hunger from the beginning of the match to the end. When the US player Balogun got a red card from the referee, which reduces the team on the field from 11 to 10, and there were still about thirty minutes to go; I thought that most likely USA would lose the game. However, the team remained their cool and everyone just focused on his work. They didn’t show any panic, 10 against 11; they still ran all around the field trying to create chances. Then Tillman scored his free-kick goal, which was like a dream.

I was impressed by the US soccer team in former World Cups; to me they played soccer more like playing basketball or American football, straightforward and courageous, kept running. Every time I saw them chasing the ball, I couldn’t help calling “Run! Gump, Run!” (the line from the movie “Forrest Gump”)

This is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first-ever appearance in the knockout stage; they had been a great opponent. In the round of 16, the US team will face Belgium, another big challenge. I look forward to seeing it.

A bug stops on my window screen. They are curious; they hang around at the doors or windows waiting for their chance to slip in. But once they do succeed, they fly here and there in the house seeming like they are looking for something. Then they feel bored, get no food, and want to get out. The problem is, it’s much easier to get in than getting out. So, they dwell on the windows, from where the light and breezes come. To the lucky ones, if I see them and open the screen for them, they will fly out; while the unlucky ones will have to keep looking for the exit until one day I find their dead bodies at the windowsills or on the floor.

One night when I was about to sleep, I noticed a firefly in the room. It flickered in the dark but hard for me to locate it; when I turned on the light, it hid away. Eventually I didn’t know where it had gone, dead or still alive; but I never saw it again.

To minimize the tragedy, I shall open the screen to let the bug go—the end of this diary.