Today is the last day of May. As much as I love and look forward to June, I’m always sad to see May end. It goes by too fast. And June will go by even faster. June is truly the loveliest month of the year here. “Then, if ever, come perfect days . . .”
Monday was Memorial Day and, in keeping with our tradition, we went to Ulysses for the parade and the ceremony at the cemetery. We actually were a little late and missed most of the parade this year. There was a nice sized crowd at the cemetery. Later in the afternoon we had a cookout in our front yard under the maple trees.
 |
| The high school band taking a break between the parade and ceremony. |
 |
| The 21 gun salute. |
 |
| We bought a new flag for Memorial Day. |
In the early 19th century it was popular for botanical gardens to plant a flower clock. They noticed that certain flowers open regularly at certain times of the day and thought they could plant a garden, a flower clock, that told the time. It didn’t work very well because the flowers were too much affected by things like latitude and weather to be accurate, but it was a nice idea. I don’t mark the hours of the day, but I note the stages of the growing year by a sort of seasonal flower clock based on the wild flowers that bloom along the roadsides. It starts with coltsfoot in the early days of spring and progresses on through dandelion to buttercup and wild phlox in late spring, wild roses, daisies, mallows, chicory, and Queen Anne’s lace as we move through summer, and Joe Pye weed, iron weed, goldenrod, and asters in the fall. The dandelions have all gone to fuzz now and we have entered the buttercup and wild phlox days, the finest days of the year. These are the days that are warm, but not too hot, when the world is emerald green with meadows of tall grass that haven’t gone to seed yet. These are the days when the peepers quiet down and the bullfrogs get loud. And the finest time of day in these finest days of the year is the evening when the long slanting light of the sun makes the world look perfect. On evenings such as these, the buttercups look more yellow than seems possible and the wild phlox glows in shades of white and pink and purple on the shadowed banks of the roadsides. The phlox is fragrant and if you drive with the windows down, or better yet, take a walk along the road, their perfume floats in the cool evening air.
 |
| Buttercups along highway 49. |
 |
| Wild phlox on the road to Genesee. |
I did a lot of work in the garden last week. I’m there every minute I can spare – all day if I can manage it. Saturday was Planting Day. All the flowers and vegetables that I’ve raised in my seed trays are in the garden now. It was a warm day, but we had some rain midday and an evening thunderstorm that helped the transplants get settled in. So now I watch and tend and wait as the growing season progresses.
 |
| Tilling in my bee suit - loud machinery irritates them and I'm playing it safe. |
 |
| Planting Day - the tomatoes are in now. |
We’re past asparagus time now, which makes me sad, but the lettuce is growing nicely and starting to form heads. The potatoes have recovered from the freeze of a few weeks ago and the grapes have sprouted again. The strawberries are in bloom and it looks like they will give us plenty of berries in June and on into the summer. The bees are busy gathering nectar and pollen. I added new frames to the hive for them to build on. All around us the farmers are taking their first cutting of hay and the smell of it hanging in the warm air is like breathing ambrosia.
 |
| The garden at the end of May. |
 |
| The lupines are starting to bloom now. |
Josiah was away on Thursday and Friday to a S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) competition down in Lancaster. He was part of a team of five who built a machine using an Arduino kit (don’t ask me, I just know what he tells me). It was amazing that a team from a small rural high school like Northern Potter made it to states. They didn’t win a big prize nor were they selected to go to the next level of competition, but it was a good experience for them. They met the governor and his wife. They got to see a glimpse of the big world.
 |
| Presenting to the governor and his wife at the STEM competition. |
This will be our last week of school. Monday and Tuesday are final exams and Wednesday is a half day and then school is out until August. Josiah will be done with his junior year. Next school year will be his last. It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached this point already.
Today was our Stake Conference. Thanks to technology, we didn’t have to drive all the way to Palmyra (two and a half hours one way for us), but got to watch it via the internet in our own building. It was a good conference and, being only two hours long, we got home from church earlier than usual. It is rainy and chilly today. Dinner is cooking now and after that I foresee a nice nap. Sundays are a great way to begin a week.
 |
| Late May evening. |
