Today was one of those strange, breath-holding summer days. The sun was blazing, the sky nearly too blue — and yet, the air was thick, heavy with a weight that felt like it was waiting to crack.
I wandered out to the meadows to collect some meadowsweet, and then peppermint, hoping to dry a bit for tea later. It’s that time of year when nature is both wild and generous. Everything is in bloom, even as it hints that change is near.
I took my Medical Herbalism book with me and sat down in the garden, hoping to make the most of the warm day before the sky turned. I had barely read a page when my phone suddenly screamed in my hands — an emergency alert, the kind I’ve only seen in movies.
A loud, unmissable noise. I couldn’t even dismiss it. It was a government-issued weather warning, sent directly to mobile towers in the region. What?! Since when do we even have those? I’ve never received one before. It felt serious. And honestly… I wasn’t ready.
I don’t have anything prepared — no “storm bag,” no backup lights neatly packed like they always show in disaster movies. Just me, herbs, and a slowly rising panic.
They say: stay inside.
So I will stay inside. If the thunderstorm really comes, I’ll be here—hoping it passes gently over us.
Few drops came and I’ve brought in the clothes I had hanging out to dry—some are still damp. Nothing seems to air-dry properly this summer… everything is slow, heavy, like the weather itself
For now, I’ll sip peppermint tea and keep one eye on the sky… and might watch a Ghibli movie 🙂
Ilze
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a day in the life of a latvian mom 
I hope it all blew over without any damage. That alarm sounds traumatising!
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It’s good you have the warning system. We have always had them in the US, until Trump’s cuts. Now, we have loss of life in Texas from fast floods.
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Be careful!! We have those alert messages on the phones, TV and radio, pay attention. Trump had nothing to do with the deaths in Texas… He has though, visited the area.
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Did the storm hit?
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Blimey. How scary! Did the storm arrive? did you get the photos of the
moisture meter on my blog? Mandy.
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I sure hope the storm came and went with no destruction. Those alerts are so scary, aren’t they? A couple of months ago I was awakened from a sound sleep at 3 AM to my phone shrieking with a tornado warning. Yikes! Like you, I was completely unprepared. Thank heavens it blew through our area quickly and moved on without touching down. I hope your storm did the same, Ilze.
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I trust you survived
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Oh, we were lucky.. I wanted to share it in the next post, but life happened 🙂 We were lucky enough to have just heavy rain and wind. No hail.
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Ages ago I learned to keep our house storm ready.
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Well, it’s not normal here… But I guess… now it will be normal! And I don’t even know what is “storm ready”! How can you be ready!?
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