Summer's here! #phenology

I remember my mother, or was it my grandmother, describing some awkward youngsters as being "all knees and elbows." The young fawn we saw yesterday reminded us of that, but it was also "all legs and mouth." S/he had managed to get away from mom long and far enough to come and explore the edge of our backyard. When the doe stepped out from the woods edge, we could almost hear the fawn bleating "Honest, mom, I wasn't doing anything," as the young'un slunk back to the doe and started to nurse. Scenes like that, and the pair of swans we saw flying over a local marsh a day or two ago give us some hope for the present. We're still holding our breath about the future, but then, there really is only "Now," true?

mid-June fawn--how quickly they grow!

Photo by J. Harrington

Today is the bicentennial of Walt Whitman's birthday. We confess that we've had a copy of his Leaves of Grass stacked in our "to be read" pile for some time now. In honor of this auspicious event, we've started reading it and will commit to finishing it some time over the this Summer, we should live so long. That will fill one of many gaps in our education and further motivate us to read more of Emerson, one of Whitman's early supporters.

As you know, tomorrow is the beginning of meteorological Summer. Mother Nature is acknowledging that with today's temperatures in the mid-80's. We were outside cutting some grass and doing a few other chores and managed to pick up several ticks, another sign of the season. The first bumblebee of the season appears this week, as have the flower buds on the lilies of the valley. The poison ivy we sprayed with herbicide yesterday is looking might sickly today, so that's encouraging. Next week's weather is supposed to cool off a little. Frankly, we much prefer mid-70's to today's heat, so we'll defer any strenuous outside efforts until after the weekend. May Mother Nature bless each of us with a Summer full of wonderful memories.

For You O Democracy

By Walt Whitman

Come, I will make the continent indissoluble,

I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon, 

I will make divine magnetic lands, 

                   With the love of comrades, 

                      With the life-long love of comrades. 

I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America, and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies, 

I will make inseparable cities with their arms about each other’s necks, 

                   By the love of comrades, 

                      By the manly love of comrades. 

For you these from me, O Democracy, to serve you ma femme! 

For you, for you I am trilling these songs.

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