A cycle of individual grains

July was a good month…
Neither hot nor cold, I spent it feeling refreshed both physically and mentally.
It was so calm that I feel like my head screw loosened a lot more than usual.
Since this weather won't last forever, I plan to tighten that loose screw back up in August. I'll start by looking for my screwdriver. Where did I put it again?

I developed a perfect recipe for a Nordic summer with no humidity and temperatures around 20 degrees, and enjoyed one limited drink every day 🍹 (self-restraint) at the end of the day.
Squeeze a quarter of a lime into a glass, dissolve one teaspoon of honey in it, add about 30ml of Bombay Sapphire, and top with soda water.
Like Grandma Okuma from Onihei, I would murmur, "I can't end the day without this," as I drank it.
I can't tell the difference between gins, so it doesn't have to be Bombay Sapphire, but the bottle just looks cool on the liquor store's gin shelf.
After that, I would lie on my futon and fall asleep, thinking, "It was a good day..." rather than, "It was a good life..."
July was a good month….

While accompanying a 15-year-old boy fishing, instead of fishing myself, I watched the small rippling surface of the water, and gradually my focus blurred, and I started fantasizing about how water circulates on Earth.
The calm surface of the lake in front of me, disaster rainfall, seawater, river water, blessed rain, water of death, water of life, contaminated water, natural water, well water, glacial ice, ice in iced coffee, tap water, the black rain that fell someday.
The water in our bodies: 73% of the brain and heart, 83% of the lungs, 64% of the skin, 79% of the muscles and kidneys, 31% of the bones, and about 90% of the blood.
The water molecules in the tears I just yawned out might have been dinosaur urine once, or water from Niagara Falls, or sap from a tree somewhere, or moisture from a shiitake mushroom before it was dried.
Not just water molecules, but atoms, molecules, and all the particles that make up all matter – when I think about the long-term circulation of these particles, it feels like time, space, and all kinds of boundaries blur, as the particles simply change form as they cycle around. The total number of particles on Earth remains constant, only changing shape.
What were the atoms and molecules that make me up before me, and what will they become after me? My body, too, will eventually return to this cycle. Am I merely borrowing the things that temporarily constitute me from that cycle?
…Just particles, after all.
As I was having such fantasies,

Beyond the water's surface, a fish jumped with a loud splash! The 15-year-old watched it with regret, while fluffy clouds floated by, and a cool breeze blew.
Ah. My real world is back.
In any case, it seems fish won't be for dinner tonight.