The Summer also rises

© harrington

' afternoon. Yesterday's sunrise, like the one pictured above, seemed designed to to remind us of the stanza in The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First., by James Russell Lowell, that begins:

And what is so rare as a day in June?
  Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
  And over it softly her warm ear lays.

This morning dawned without the spectacular colors. The light, instead of bursting upon the scene, quietly flowed and circled across the landscape like water from a quiet back-eddy in the nearby St. Croix. The wild flowers (and flowering weeds), the towering cumulus clouds, the gentle breezes, the cool mornings followed by warm afternoons like this, all help us put aside long, cold Winters and longer, wetter Springs. Are you doing anything to celebrate tomorrow's Friday's solstice? I think we'll be breaking in a new charcoal grill. The old one, after only twelve or fifteen years of service and neglect, waved an ash-gray flag and surrendered. The new one is larger and has a protective shield to keep the ashes from being blown all over the place as it's being cleaned. The griller in the family is pleased and I'm pleased to consume the results. The septic tank pumper finally arrived today and did his thing. The white clover planted in the front yard has come in as thick as a Berber carpet. Now, once we get back the tractor (broken belt) and the tiller (tune-up), we should be back at full strength. None of this, however, will do anything to deter our record-breaking swarm of mosquitoes, whose diminutive size is inversely propertional to the itchiness of their bites. All in all, a typically fine Summer is emerging in My Minnesota. May yours help you lay in a store of warm memories to draw on next Winter. Thanks for the visit. Come again when you can. Rants, raves and reflections served daily.