Here comes Summer! #phenology

We know it's almost six weeks until the Summer solstice, but it's now pre-Summer as far as we're concerned. We wonder how many readers are old enough to remember the wonderful teen song from the late 1950s "Here Comes Summer." We're not quite feeling teen-frisky again, but we are happy about today's weather and the activity at the feeders. There's several female ruby-throated hummingbirds simultaneously at the nectar feeder and, every once in awhile, they're joined by a downy woodpecker. Last year the hummingbirds were chasing each other away. Baltimore orioles are feeding on the grape jelly feeder. Rose-breasted grosbeaks are here in abundance. [The purple nectar was last year's time-saver. This year we're making our own clear nectar.] A purple or house finch, we think the latter, showed up briefly yesterday at the sunflower feeder. Red-winged blackbirds come and go at random times. Bright goldfinches arrive and depart as if they were the Sharks or the Jets from West Side Story cruising the 'hood.

female ruby-throated hummingbird at nectar feeder

Photo by J. Harrington

The weather forecast for this week's end involves 1" to 2" of rain in our neck of the woods, at least some of it from thunderstorms. Oak tree leaves are growing larger daily. The first 80℉ in many, many months may be registered around here tomorrow. Yesterday we managed to clean up most of Winter's accumulated detritus from the screened porch. The Better Half and I spent some time yesterday and this morning enjoying one of the finer benefits of country living, sitting quietly on the porch watching the natural world go about its business.

Baltimore oriole (f?) at nectar feeder

Photo by J. Harrington

We continue to struggle with our obsessive-compulsive desire to get everything done at once. Slowly, very slowly, we're coming to accept that there is no such thing as getting everything done and what we need to do is find the proper balance and corresponding priorities. Maybe, at the rate we're going, this Summer we'll actually be able to get around to humming "Summertime, and the living' is easy..."

His Speed and Strength

Alicia Ostriker, 1937

His speed and strength, which is the strength of ten
years, races me home from the pool.
First I am ahead, Niké, on my bicycle,
no hands, and the Timescrossword tucked in my rack,
then he is ahead, the Green Hornet,
buzzing up Witherspoon,
flashing around the corner to Nassau Street.

At noon sharp he demonstrated his neat
one-and-a-half flips off the board:
Oh, brave. Did you see me, he wanted to know.
And I doing my backstroke laps was Juno
Oceanus, then for a while I watched some black
and white boys wrestling and joking, teammates, wet
plums and peaches touching each other as if

it is not necessary to make hate,
as if Whitman was right and there is no death.
A big wind at our backs, it is lovely, the maple boughs
ride up and down like ships. Do you mind
if I take off, he says. I’ll catch you later,
see you, I shout and wave, as he peels
away, pedaling hard, rocket and pilot.

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