Summer

The grass is tall now and the farmers are starting to hay their fields. 

Is there any scent more evocative of Summer than fresh cut hay? 

Driving along on my way to do my weekly errands, 

I kept my window rolled all the way down with my hair flying. 

Just so I could breathe in Summer. 

I couldn't help it. 

And yes, my windows actually 'roll' down with a handle. 

I have a 'soon to be' classic Ford Ranger pickup with roll down windows! 

They don't make Rangers any more. 

I have one of the last models made. 

I love my little pickup truck with its chrome grill and 4 wheel drive. 

A necessity around here. The 4 wheel drive, not the chrome. 

Well, maybe that, too. 

Now this is a true classic! It's for sale and oh, how I wish I had an extra few thousand to buy her. 

My Dad would love this truck and if he were still driving around these parts, he would have taken her home. 

He always had an old truck like this just to tinker with and drive back and forth to the local stores. 

If I could buy it, I would also want this vintage trailer. 

Although it does look sweet as can be just sitting there between those charming little barns. 

These are two of the temptations I drive by on my way to the market. 

The roadsides are full of mid-summer flowers.....Daisies, yellow Hawkweed, Foxglove in purple and white, and tall groupings of lavender Fireweed swaying in the breeze. 

And these......perennial Sweet Peas, forming large colonies alongside the steep banks of ditches and hillsides. 

 These have scampered up the roadside ditch and formed a frame for a lovely view. 

The air was buzzing with the sound of happy little bumble bees. 

Oh, isn't Summer so wonderful? 

The purple, fuzzy wands of Douglas Spirea

 and the flat white flower heads of Rowen bloom at the same time. 

These grow wild along fence rows and the edges of the forest. 

Another wonderful thing about Summer, is peeking in on other people's gardens. 

This lovely scene was on the edge of a large open field. 

I can almost believe I am in Provence. 

A cascading rose hedge cheers the way, planted along an old farm fence. 

I can picture the young farm wife in her apron giving sweet orders to her farmer, 

telling him where to plant them. 

And just look at this magnificent Smoke Bush! This is one of my favorite sights along the route and I wait for it to bloom all year. 

I just love its dusky vintage hue and soft as a cloud blossoms. 

As I arrive home after completing all of my errands, the sun hangs low by The Mister's tool shed. 

I am standing at the tailgate of my little truck, unloading groceries when the light catches my eye. 

We eat a simple dinner of homemade flatbread pizza on the deck as the sun dips below the horizon..... 

Painting the sky with lingering rays of rosy light. 

'To See the Summer Sky

is Poetry, Though never in a Book it lie - 

True Poems flee.'

Emily Dickinson

The End of my Summer Day. 

xoxo