Quintessential Summer Daze

What makes a summer’s day just right?

Sunshine and heat and a tandem ride to the beach for starters…

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…a tall cool McDonald’s strawberry mango smoothie to follow,  a refreshing shower and a nap out back from happy exhaustion in the dappled seclusion of the willow…

Upon waking, juicy cold sailboat slices of watermelon till thirst is quenched and tummies tight ( :

A broiled salmon steak fished from local waters for supper and then a quiet perusal of the garden in the balmy evening and some industrious compost turning  just because making dirt is so much fun!

And at close of day a glorious billowing sky of gold and silver clouds to the west and a full arc of brilliant rainbow to the east…tying up the day as if it were a custom gift from God to us.

All these make a summer’s day just right.  What more could I ask?

But then today dawned and I couldn’t resist a little hike to a favorite ‘perch’ on the side of Scout…

And I sat and wrote and read the morning away, lapping  up the luxurious warmth of another rare summer’s day…

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And  I took pictures…

P1110649P1110650P1110653…pictures of every summery thing that struck my fancy…Well, not everything, the bumper crop of crimson huckleberries hanging daintily by the roadside I didn’t think to photograph.  I plucked little tangy handfuls and ate them instead!

Flowers everywhere are celebrating summer…

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Some with great fanfare…

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Others lollygagging about…

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The most exquisite bears thorns… she is the blackberry’s forerunner.

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And at last, home to my own flowers.

My very own first Gerber Daisy… looking artificial were it not for the rumple of wind and weather…

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A quintessential summer’s day would be incomplete without the bumbling buzz of bees, hard at work while we play…

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Here’s hoping you too are enjoying the essence of summer where you are.  What makes a summer’s day just right for you?  Drop a comment in the box before you head back out the door to smell the roses!

–LS

From glum to glory…

P1110104Some days you just need a walk…

and along the way there are bright discoveries that draw your heart from glum to glory…

P1110109 Scotch broom has that effect, despite its reputation as an invasive scourge.

P1110112Brilliant profusions of blooms tossing in the wind add glory to an overcast day.

 

P1110114And then this freckled face ( ;

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And have you ever seen such rosy maple wings?

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So much depends on the lighting…

P1110158 Even a dim stand of fir can have an enticing aspect when the light is right..

 

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And here, my very own Big Leaf Maple started from a wee rescued sapling, with all her wonder brought to light!

And God saw the light,  that it was good…Gen.1:4

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. Jn.1:4

That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. Jn.1:9

–LS

Sunny Days

Sunny days are for…

Fieldtrips with favorite students…

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and for finding wild flowers.

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And the long evenings while the sun slowly sinks are for seeing what’s blooming in my own yard…

Mostly Dandy Lions!

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But bluebells too.

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And it wouldn’t be spring without the dainty salmonberry blossoms dancing in mid-air…P1100754

Or the cheery face of first Calendula!

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I love a sunny spring day!

–LS

“The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtledove [or in our course the bullfrog!] is heard in our land.” Song of Songs 2:12