Knee Deep In June

Tell you what I like the best --

'Long about knee-deep in June,
'Bout the time strawberries melts
On the vine, -- some afternoon
Like to jes' git out and rest,
And not work at nothin' else!"

~ James Witcomb Riley : Knee Deep in June

Simpler Times

Hello June

June Days are upon us.

Heat and humidity are now a daily occurrence, followed by cooling, nightly pop-up storms.
The songbirds are raising their second clutch of babies.
Lightning bugs light up the night sky, and the sound of tree frogs fill the air.
The season's first garden-grown tomatoes are ripe for the picking, and those coveted sweet Vidalia onions are back in the stores.

 "Mine is the Month of Roses; yes, and mine

The Month of Marriages! All pleasant sights

And scents, the fragrance of the blossoming vine,

The foliage of the valleys and the heights.

Mine are the longest days, the loveliest nights;

The mower's scythe makes music to my ear;

I am the mother of all dear delights;

I am the fairest daughter of the year."

~  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Springtime Balloons

The Balloon Flowers are gracing us with their prolific blooms.

Also known as the Chinese Bellflower, they are a herbaceous perennial native to eastern Russia, China, Japan, and Korea.

They start out as little puffy, balloon like buds, before blooming into beautiful star-shaped flowers.
Considered low maintenance, that last throughout the summer, and are deer resistant.
*smile*

Lest We Forget

"Your silent tents of green We deck with fragrant flowers;

Yours has the suffering been, The memory shall be ours."

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Memorial Day: Arlington National Cemetery

 

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

 

~ Laurence Binyon: For the Fallen 1914

God Bless  all the service men and women, without whose unselfish commitment, our lives would be forever changed.

Nature's Living Lanterns

We enjoyed sitting on the porch in the cooler evening air last night, discussing our day, and our plans for the upcoming week ahead.

In the darkness of the woods I noticed a tiny twinkling light nestled in the tree line, and then another, and several more......
The Lightning Bugs have returned !
Most people know about Lightning Bugs, cute little flying beetles with bottoms that light up at dusk to facilitate one task all life forms are driven to accomplish – reproduction.
In Middle Tennessee, our Lightning Bugs come out once the sun is well below the horizon and produce a bright yellow green light that blinks on and off in the gathering night.
In the coming few weeks the darkness of the woods will be lit by the twinkling lights and mating rituals of the Lightning Bugs, or Fireflies as known to non-Southerners, meeting and creating beautiful luminescence together.

Close your eyes and think back to the long hot summers of childhood.
Playing outside until late in the evening, sitting on the front porch eating ice-cold watermelon slices, listening to the crickets chirp, and the tree frogs sing.
Remember catching Lightning Bugs and keeping them in a Mason jar ?
They glowed beside you all night long sitting on your night table....
Innocence and childhood going hand in hand.

The magic has returned....

Time Marches On

We've been blessed with glorious weather these past few days, sunshine and low-humidity, the two together, are rare as hen's teeth in these southern parts.

Summer days are just around the corner, farmer's markets are displaying their early crops, and school children are graduating and getting ready for summer respite.
Despite all the chaos we have endured throughout the past years, a sense of normalcy returns.
Hoping whichever little corner of the world you call "home"..... all is calm.

Purple Delight

Despite late frosts earllier in the month, the ever faithful Clematis has once again returned.

And Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast

Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.

~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Sensitive Plant


 

May Days

"It was the month of May, the month when the foliage of herbs and trees is most freshly green, when buds ripened and blossoms appear in their fragrance and loveliness.
And the month when lovers, subject to the same force which reawakens the plants, feel their hearts open again, recall past trysts and past vows, and moments of tenderness, and yearn for a renewal of the magical awareness which is love."

~ Sir Thomas Malory, La Morte d'Arthur

Returning

Incredible blue skies and sunshine today. Lots of the stuff, it surely feels like we are slap in the midst of summer with this 78 degree heat.

Flowers are bursting out in full bloom, a virtual rainbow of colors, each day, a new surprise.
The wild turkeys are parading their new poults, the flock continues to grow.

Pop-up storms make their way through each evening, a welcomed gesture to cool the night air.

We'll take whatever help we can get.

Those pesky 17 year Brood XIV  cicadas have returned.