ebony

St. Johnswort appearing. Seen while mowing the lawn, thistles maturing around the burn pile. The goldfinches love them. Ebony crickets shining in the grass. Snakes slithering out of harm's way.

And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?
Rumi
Zen page-a-day calendar

home

Home for a day then gone again. All kinds of trailers, campers, and other recreational vehicles on the roads these days. Local corn for sale. Blueberries ripening in a field in the back.

the wild bunch

Raspberries appearing. Cows have arrived for the summer. Deer and turkeys seen feeding in fields in the evening. Gone for a few days to visit the wild bunch before they head back to Brazil.

plant-birthday

common nightshade

During every week from April to September there are, on the average, ten wild plants coming into first bloom. In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them...Tell me what plant-birthday a man takes notice, and I shall tell you a good deal about his vocation, his hobbies, his hay fever, and the general level of his ecological education.

Aldo Leopold

A Sand County Almanac

lupines

Raining again, lupines appearing. I might be late, but the lupines were not.

Sometimes in June when I see unearned dividends of dew hung on every lupine, I have doubts about the real poverty of the sands. On solvent farmlands, lupines do not even grow, much less collect a daily rainbow of jewels. If they did, the weed-control officer, who seldom sees a dewy dawn, would doubtless insist that they be cut. Do economists know about lupines?
Aldo Leopold
A Sand County Almanac

back

Back from vacation and some technical difficulties (OK, operator error) regarding this blog. Attended a wonderful family reunion off the Ohio coast (seems really weird to use those two words together) on an island in Lake Erie. I have spent a lot of time in Ohio in my life, but this was a part of the state that I had never experienced. It reminded me more of Martha's Vineyard than Ohio.

It was interesting to have been away from this blog for such a long time. I heard from friends who had never previously responded to their emails. I think they thought they had been booted off the blog. No such luck!