Reflections on the Third Week of Summer

  The first Night Beacon Daylily bloomed this week. Dark maroon encircling a bright yellow center accented the green, green time of year when mower hums blend with chickadee twitters, robin cheer-ups, and wood thrush fluty melodies. I savored the sun-warmed sweetness of the first ripe cherry tomato. I unfastened bull clips to open row cover doors on blueberry tents. Milkweed fragrance drifted into the enclosures, bugs crawled on the ghostly white fabric, and berries plunked against the bottom of my metal bucket. Strawberries and peas put me on an every other day pick-and-weed schedule. Sunlight flashed off goldfinches zigzagging into treetops. Butterfly pairs swirled in rising circles. Unlike a friend, who's moving south so that a snowflake never lands on her head again, I relish nature's changes–the parade of treats that living in rural Western Pennsylvania brings. Delights increased this year when great niece Addy reached for sunlight filtering through leaves, listened to Deer Creek glide over its rocky bed, and watched family gathering dried grass for garden mulch.