As June arrives...

We have seen the end of (meteorological) spring and the start of summer. Astronomically speaking we won't celebrate the Summer Solstice until Sunday, June 20, 2021 at 10:32 pm CDT. Between now and then, we can expect to see beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflorus) come into bloom. This year the solstice and Father's Day occur concurrently.

beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflorus)

Photo by J. Harrington

Somewhere around the solstice, if not sooner, we can look for Canada goslings being watched over by their parents and we'll also keep our eyes open for whitetail deer does accompanied by fawns later this month. Days will get longer for most of the month. Temperatures will rise. We'll begin to enter peak summer by month's end.

Canada goose and goslings

Photo by J. Harrington

Unfortunately, accompanying June's delights (have we yet mentioned bbq's and ice cream cones?) come  mosquitoes, biting flies and multitudes of ticks. Then again, it's highly improbable we'll have to shovel or blow any snow for at least the next few weeks, maybe even months, and the dragonflies will help thin out the flying, biting, bugs.

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

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