berries

Sweltering days of summer over the weekend. We had soaking rains, but it did little to fill up the Ira brook. It would be easy now to step from one side of the creek to the other without getting one's feet wet. Wary brook trout gathering in shady pools. July is the season of raspberries. Allyn brought me a handful yesterday afternoon. A tangy summer treat if you know where to look.

Yes, today may not be the day for answers but to finally let your heart break open to the vastness of the question.

Matt Licata

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neighborhood

Tall Meadow-rue

The world of life, of spontaneity,

the world of dawn and sunset

and starlight, the world of

soil and sunshine, of meadow

and woodland, of hickory and

oak and maple and hemlock

and pineland forests, of wildlife

dwelling around us, of the

river and its well-being, all of

this...(is) the integral community

in which we live.

Thomas Berry

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cinquefoil

This blog is basically about the changes in the natural world here in rural Vermont. There are times during the year when changes are either easy or hard to notice. Spring and Fall are easy. There are lots of changes. Surprisingly the winter season is the next easiest. I don't really know why. The middle of the summer is the hardest, not a lot is changing around here. The saving grace in past years has been that there was a lot of activity in the human realm. People were vacationing, traveling. There was a lot of sporting activity of all kinds. Those were the things that pulled me through. This year though, things are much quieter.

The other day I was driving around in the pasture in the back, and I noticed the cinquefoil was starting to blossom. It is a lighter shade of yellow than many of the others, but beautiful.

This photo really doesn't do it justice. Anyway, I thought a brief posting on the yellows of summer would be nice. I went out in the morning and in the field where I had seen a lot of cinquefoil activity just the day before, I couldn't find one flower to photograph. It was cloudy and I thought that maybe the flowers were closed. I scrutinized the field very closely and still couldn't find any evidence of cinquefoil. I went back to that same field yesterday to record some activity on the Linden trees (more on that later), and, once again, the field was full of flowers. It was in the afternoon. Seemingly the cinquefoil are late risers. I was able to glean just a little bit more information about some of my neighbors here in the natural world. This is not something I learned from the pages of my wildflower book. It was learned by looking.

It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper understanding.

Vincent van Gogh

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yellows of summer

St. Johns Wort

Black Eyed Susan

day lilies

Happy Birthday Owen!

This big boy is five years old today! I know he looks like Huck Finn, but it's actually Owen Kahle. Happy Birthday, Owen!!

spring to summer

Leaves darken as spring turns to summer.

Grass turning from green to brown.

Delivery of wood to Pete's house.

Delivery of wood to my house. Yikes.

mist

The first day of July. A much needed dollup of rain yesterday. Mist and fog in the valley this morning on our walk.

Tree frogs call from a nearby bog. Rabbit bursts out of the brush along the roadside. Newly minted apples shining in the green.

Cows in the pasture, munching on breakfast.

Now it's time for mine.