Caesar Agustus!! Is the calendar page really about to turn again? In our circling of seasons, July is bringing its warm, humid self to closure as August comes along with its half-summer and half-fall days. Some garden produce is ready for harvest (lettuce, cherry tomatoes, kale….). The roadsides are full of periwinkle blue chicory and Queen Anne’s Lace, and golden rod is beginning to blossom suggesting summer’s waning. August is my birth month, a month with no holidays except my birthday,
Mid-July and outside I hear the buzz of lawn mowers, the subdued sound of birds and occasionally, the rooster next door. I haven’t done a whole lot of dancing up and down the lawn recently, but there have been lovely twilights for porch-sitting or around a campfire. This has been a dreadful year for mosquitoes, but the “fragrance” of punk sticks keeps them at bay where we are sitting. That aroma reminds me of 4-H camp in the Bristol Hills of NYS, where I went as a camper and later as a couns
It’s warm outside, which is a nice change from our long winter, but I’m grateful for AC. There’s over-the-top hot and humid! We are in the doldrums time for flowers. Peonies and other spring flowers have bloomed, and late summer blossoms haven’t yet matured. I keep thinking I’ll add more biennials to the garden for this in-between time (canterbury bells, foxgloves, hollyhocks) --- but somehow, I have fragmented follow-through. The grasses along the roadsides are ripening; ranging in color fro
What wonderful golden days, even though steamy weather came too early! Here, in the Finger Lakes, it is strawberry season. This year I’m hoping to make jam as well as enjoying the fresh berries. Even strawberry-less gardens are starting to look good with their emerging rows of green seedlings. High school graduations are coming too. Because of standardized Regents tests, school endings in NYS are written almost in stone, but there seems to be no set season for graduations elsewhere; a neph
by Carol Bossard
June, the month of weddings, Father’s Day, Flag Day, making hay and weeding gardens. Days are generally warm and nights are still fairly cool. Grass grows overnight. But of course, one never knows what will happen with our yoyo weather patterns. The news that both poles have moved thirteen feet is a bit disconcerting; that’s the width of my kitchen. I suppose, considering the size of the earth and the vastness of space that 13 feet isn’t all that much. But it is well
There was no dancing around May poles this May Day. With COVID restrictions as they are, intertwined children and ribbons are not a good thing. But spring flowers are dancing in the breezes. Lilies of the valley look as though they could ring those little bells as they shake in the wind. Tulips are a bit stiffer, but they too move, in a stately way --- rather more like a minuet than the free-form bobbing of the little lilies. Lilacs will soon be scenting the atmosphere everywhere around alo
Easter is past and a lovely time it was. Now Spring lies before us with so many things to do it makes the head spin. Because of the mild weather and all the melting snow, things have greened-up nicely. Our daylilies are up several inches, daffodils on a south-facing bank are blooming and the deer have stopped coming down Apparently, their food sources on the hill are sufficient for their needs. Turkeys have separated into flocks and are less frequent visitors. I expect the hens may be sit
Planting season isn’t yet here for our gardens, but it is growing closer and closer. The red-winged blackbirds arrived two weeks ago. To discourage them from mobbing the feeders, I’m filling the feeders later in the day. They are, however, a happy sign that spring has arrived. There is also a starling that has found the little basket I put out for orioles last spring. He sits in it and demolishes the cake of suet hanging right next to the basket. There are four “gentlemen turkeys” (unattach
The arrival of March is always encouraging even though I know that we can get snow-fall half-way into April. And as one of our sons said: “The way this winter has been, we’ll probably get two weeks or so of spring and then a blizzard will hit us.” Could happen! But it just seems that when March comes ---- especially with the onset of Daylight Savings Time ---- spring cannot be far away. The old saying is that if March roars in like a lion it will bring an early spring for it will go out like
We’ve had snowfall nearly every night --- another half to three-inches on top of our since- Christmas snow. This morning there was NO new snow. There is a slight change in the air, and some of the birds are singing spring-ish songs. I’ve heard from one or two observers that a few robins have emerged from the swamps and are out there conning people into thinking spring has come. I expect they won’t stay around long; finding worms beneath our banks of snow will be impossible. But yesterday’s
Happy Birthday to my turning-seventeen today granddaughter!!! We’re sending virtual gifts of joy and delight, courage and wisdom and wish we could send a yummy birthday cake!
It is also, according to the Monday Morning Epistle from the Burdett Presbyterian church, “White Tee Shirt Day” “Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk Day” and “Peppermint Patty Day”. And elsewhere I heard it was “Make A New Friend Day”. So this is obviously a day worth singing about!
Hasn’t February been fun so far? Of
We are already at the end of January!!! It has been a month of astonishment, disbelief, grief, relief and, for some, continued fears --- many conflicting emotions as the world turns and our country goes through another stage of growing pains. As someone pointed out to me, we are really only a bit over 200 years from living under a monarchy. While 200 seems a lot of years to me, on a historic time line, that isn’t very long. We are still learning ---- and developing ----- and growing ---- and
Hasn’t our January weather been interesting?? Do crunchy snows underfoot, brisk breezes and wood fires make your heart sing? Snow-lovers can’t complain here; we’ve had snow since Christmas. TV weather people are much more animated when the weather is “bad”; life probably is a bit boring if no blizzards are in view and their radar shows that little is happening. I just personally wish that those fronts were less befuddled about their paths. Do we draw pails of water in case of power outage
How about this? This year’s last essay on the last day of the year! It is a transition time! Betwixt and Between! Transitioning reminds me of the Star Trek method of travel. Teleporting, however, provides rapid transit from one place to another while this year has required mental and emotional transitions at a slightly slower pace. As a comment for 2020 ---- I’ll just quote Charlie Brown: “ARRRRGGGGGHHH”! And 2021 -----will hopefully be a TA-DA as we land on our feet!
Actually
I cut enough broccoli heads in the garden last Saturday for dinner. December 12th !!! It was so good! An odd blessing in December! The remnants of our ash trees are slowly becoming firewood. The weather in the past two weeks has allowed outdoor work, and Kerm is splitting the big chunks that remain into useful pieces for our wood stove. As the old adage says, wood warms twice --- once while getting it ready to burn and then again when it sends its heat throughout the living room. My doct
The season of Advent is here; a time of preparation, waiting and expectancy. It feels as though, not that long ago, I was putting away the Christmas decorations from last year; the CDs, the bright ornaments, the door wreath. But we picked up the new evergreen wreath yesterday, made by S-VE FFA students, and also a lovely pink poinsettia. The time of many holiday celebrations is surely with us.
I’m a little puzzled by what seems to be jealous clutching of the Christmas holiday and the r
Today is Earth Day ---- an occasion for taking time to appreciate the very ground beneath our feet and all that grows thereon. It is a day to notice the bees (dwindling in numbers) on dandelions, the white of shadblow on the hills and to appreciate the rain (although maybe not so much that mixed precipitation!). We (human-kind) have been careless and lacking in gratitude for the amazing connections and interconnections in our world from the depths of the seas to the starry endlessness of space
We are currently living amid the most ebullient, lush time of the year. Greenery grows inches every night. The cinnamon ferns in my shade garden are unrolling like so many bright green scrolls. Soon they will be high enough that I must peer through them to see the bird feeders. And baby raccoons and skunks will be out and about. We have an interesting variety of creatures in this region; opossums, raccoons, foxes, bobcats, black bears, skunks, fishers, coyotes, turkey vultures (four of whi
Ahhhh….. It’s March! Daylight savings time (this coming Sunday) and the Vernal Equinox (March 20) all in the same month. And yes, we will lose an hour, but it will be delightfully light longer in the day. We can feel the new life of Easter approaching, for the season of Lent began last Wednesday with a community service and luncheon. It is a time of introspection as well as awakening activity.
My process of cleaning out is continuing; it might continue on into infinity! “Yet occasiona
“Outside the open window the morning air is all awash with angels. Love calls us to things of this world.”* This totally describes a morning in June with its singing birds, dewy grasses and long hours of light. Besides the beauty of the world around us there are all the people who give love and those who need love. June —— when graduating seniors get a bad case of “senioritis” and grade-schoolers gaze longingly out the windows of their classrooms ——when birds who flew north in March have fledg
The birds aren’t singing as enthusiastically as they had two months ago, but they are still happily visiting the feeders and chirping away contentedly. A very small hummingbird – probably this year’s baby —- zips in for the sweet fluid and hesitates when he sees me sitting on the porch. The fireflies have begun lighting up the grassy parts of the back yard, especially on warm humid nights. The second cutting of hay is nearly done for local farmers. The garden is growing but not ready to harve
It’s mid-August and the stores are blatantly advertising school supplies and autumn clothing, not to mention Halloween decorations ---- this, in spite of the humidity and 80-90 degree temperatures. August is still summer!!--- and days continue to be good for picnics, sun tans, and nights fine for star-gazing. Hal Borland* describes August well……….”Dog Days ….Dragon flies and Damsel flies follow the boat when I go out on the river……little spotted turtles sun themselves on old logs and slip into
My favorite time of the year is drifting in with these late summer days leading into fall. Perhaps it is due to so many years of school beginnings, but now has always seemed to me, a more appropriate onset for a new year than January. Many cultures back in history have agreed; as harvests ended, a new year began. Instead of snow and ice, we could look forward to weeks of blue skies and pleasant weather with, hopefully, a few more rainy days than this summer provided. It’s time for being outs
The Equinox has come and we are now truly in autumn. Seasons are flashing past in double-time. Sooner than seems possible, we’ll be contemplating Thanksgiving dinner and then Christmas cards. But even now, there is this strange pull to prepare for winter ---- though most winter days here are navigable and fairly easy to manage. We are seldom snowed/iced in for more than two days. But, still, something inside ---- maybe all those years of helping put in hay bales or canning tomatoes, or perh
We are in the last quarter of the year; October, whose birth stone is the fire opal and flower is the marigold, takes us into mid-fall. My flowers still in bloom are chocolate eupatorium and monkshood/wolfbane/aconite (ref. Harry Potter). Leaves on trees are turning, days are crisper and darkness comes too soon. It is the season of glowing. We were recently away for a few days on Cape Cod. Our sons and their families joined us to de-stress and find a change of scenery. We went on a whale w
