Tuesday, July 9, 2013

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

25 comments:

  1. Karen, I love the way you write. Your posts are so descriptive. So glad you are enjoying your summer days and nights.

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  2. Ooo your mountain looks like a raspberry ripple ice cream. Such a wonderful car journey, and yes, I also have wind down windows! I insist on them after having a nasty experience with electric ones (I'm very accident prone). It looks like a perfect day. Have a wonderful week. xx

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  3. That truck is so cute! I've always wanted an old truck like that :) Your drive looks beautiful and I really like all the flowers in the fields. You ended the day perfectly in my opinion!

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  4. Beautiful post Karen, I feel as though I am sitting along side you on the trip to town.... Love the truck..Lovely pic of your two furr babies having a nap... Enjoy summer.. Hugs May x x x

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  5. The most beautiful summer day I've ever seen! And I've learned a new word: "errands", "Mandados" in Spanish. Great!

    Marina

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  6. Such a lovely post, Karen! Everything is so beautiful on your summer day. (My husband would love to have that truck, by the way!)

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  7. sweet snoozing cats! love the wildflowers (daisies!!!) and the smoke bush. i'd be drooling over that old pickup truck, too. :)

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  8. yes, summer is grand and I love the old truck too!

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  9. Oh Karen this post had me smiling from the beginning to the end with your beautiful photos and your thoughts about the old truck your Dad would like (mine too) your enjoying the smell of hay still waiting for the rain to stop here. I laughed when I read your image of "I can picture the young farm wife in her apron giving sweet orders to her farmer, telling him where to plant them". Sounds like My Hero and I:) I am a little puzzled by the use of sweet:) Hug B

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  10. I bet you never get tired of looking at your mountain- it's so pretty in the different light. I love all those wildflowers by the side of the road - definitely need the windows down!

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  11. How I miss the summer sun, it is nice to visit a place where the sun is shinning, you live in a very beautiful place.
    Merle........

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  12. Dearest Karen,
    That was another lovely post! Haha, today was the 16th Birthday of my RAV4 2-door and I keep it as it is such a cute ute and since 2000 they quit making them.
    Your summer flowers are absolutely gorgeous and you beat Georgia big time! The ending of your summer day looks like a copy cat of mine! Literally...
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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  13. I am pretty in love with summer too. Your view of Mt Rainier is awesome! I just took some photos of perennial sweet peas last week and they are so lovely. So glad you are enjoying this time of year!

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  14. I love that you drive with the windows down! Not enough people do that anymore. As kids our windows were always down. I am just smitten with all of the blooms growing along the roadside in your neck of the woods! I would be tempted to get our and make a bouquet!! Have a lovely week friend..as always your view takes my breath away!

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  15. It's lovely summer day!

    the plantings are aswesome. I love love the flowers around your place.
    I love all flowers that you captured.

    Blessing,

    Delvalina

    delvalinatuanger.blogspot.com

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  16. You make us travel in such wonderful summery landscapes Karen!And I'm in love with these wonderful flowers, sweet pees but I can't find them here, there are stunning and like that, so wild never seen before...
    Wish you a nice summer!

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  17. Hello Karen - great picture series shows you ..... Wish you and your good Wednesday :) Hugs Hanne Bente

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  18. I love the smell of fresh cut hay. I wish they made a candle scent! And I was just talking to my honey this morning about how you never see cars with handles to roll down windows anymore lol. Lovely pictures here as always - especially the sweet peaes!

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  19. Karen, thanks for taking us along on your drive! You live in a beautiful part of the country. I love all those wild flowers along the fences. Eating pizza on the deck sounds like a wonderful way to end the day.

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  20. I've said it before: You live in a great country! Just beautiful!

    Kind greetings from the Netherlands,
    Gert Jan

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  21. Your little red truck journey to market and back is breathtaking Karen-
    I'd move there in a blink of an eye if only- it never got cold- any lower that 70 is cold to me ~:)

    Thanks for sharing the beauty you pass-by.

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  22. What a neat summer day - and such a cute truck. Oh for summer to go on longer and longer. The photos make me feel like I'm right there.

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  23. Love poems! I love the way you write, I can write well but understand English well.
    Summer is magic!
    Your cats like our bed like mine, they are a cute!
    A beautiful weekend for you and the whole family!

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  24. Love love you brightly clear header for your blog..
    Yes, yes, indeed -- There is nothing like the smell of fresh cut hay!
    It bring sweet thoughtful memories into my head of long summer days hearing my Dad out in the field cutting for hours and days..And sit on the hay stack and wishing my Dad did not have to work so hard..and dreaming of my own farm... ya -- lazy summer days for the young girl I was --Oh they were days filled with work too but nothing like my Dad's day...
    Number 1 is my favorite photo today. When I meet my sweetheart he was driving a ford like your. His grand father gave it to him - it need a paint job and he found some paint and painted himself -- it was a great job but what was he thinking painting it the colors of a Bumble bee - yellow and black - I started calling it the bumble bee truck and I was embarrass to ride in it..silly young woman I was -- it was paid for and great shape but a gas hog -- he sold it and got a 1970 Bronco and on cloudy nine..I had many thoughts of owning a (Red) ford pick-up truck like yours -- hey, you could have your own car show - wink!!I bet you get a lot of looks when you are out driving around.. smile
    Hugs

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  25. Beautiful post and pics as always, Karen...made me miss the Pacific Northwest!

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Thank you for stopping by! Your comments are important to me and are very much appreciated. xx Karen

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