Ah, Summer, Here at Last!!

Ah, finally glorious summer!!!  I love heat. I love humidity.  I walk out into it and it feels like an embrace.  Most people don’t feel that way, so I have to listen to a lot of complaints I don’t share in all summer.

The bee balm is flourishing.

Don’t get me wrong; there are temperatures I don’t like, but generally they’re over a hundred:  the sort of temperature that makes you think you’ve opened an oven rather than a door to the outside.  That I don’t like, but it doesn’t bother me the way it does other people.

Black-eyed Susans are beginning to blossom.

If I can dress for a temperature, I usually don’t mind it too much.  I have the appropriate clothing for winter, for instance.  If it’s 10 degrees and the wind is blowing, I make sure to wrap my face in a scarf and put on a down coat.  If it’s going to be 87 and humid, I wear linen and carry a sweater or wrap for the inevitable chill of air conditioning.

The harvest Saturday morning.

But I do love summer and all the warmth.  I like working in the garden and having to take a shower afterward.  I don’t mind sweating as it means I’m warm.  And goodness the sun feels so good this time of year.  Sometimes I think I could be a photovoltaic cell, storing up energy for the inevitable cooler months.

The cucumbers could very well be prolific this year.

The garden is really beginning to produce.  Beans, beets, carrots, summer squashes.  That lovely lull in having to buy vegetables has arrived.  This evening I had fresh beans from the garden, enhanced with a few carrots.

The beans have been coming on really well.

There’s nothing quite like summer, in all its glory:  the scents of flowers, the different colors of green, the lushness of trees, the new growth on shrubs, fireflies, cut flowers.  It’s all lovely and transient, ready to be noticed and enjoyed moment by moment.

These zinnias are protecting carrots from the rabbits AND providing color.

Have a good week, and by all means maintain your ideal temperature!