Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, a day of celebration and sadness for me. We’ve reached apex of the solar cycle. Light has triumphed over darkness. It began to get light at 4:30 this morning and twilight will linger until almost 10:00 tonight. Spring is officially over and Summer has begun. But tomorrow we begin the gradual descent into darkness again. The days will begin to grow shorter, and though imperceptible at first, I know it’s happening and it makes me sad. I try not think of that other day, the nadir of sun’s cycle just six short months away when the world will be dark and frozen, but I can’t help it. As much as I find joy in the arrival of summer, I’m already mourning its passing. Time moves too quickly sometimes.
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| View from the back porch steps. |
We’ve marked the transition of the seasons with much anticipated events. On Wednesday Hannah and Josiah went swimming in Erway’s pond for the first time this year. I didn’t think it was warm enough to go swimming. I’m not tempted to get in the pond until it’s at least 100° outside, but they went in. They said the water was warm and full of polliwogs. The other great seasonal event was that we ate the first strawberries from our garden last week -- the first many weeks of berries I hope.
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| First swim of the year. |
It rained a lot last week and things are growing like mad. I can’t keep up with the lawn. I think I could mow it every day, but I can’t because it’s always too wet to mow. And there are mushrooms coming up everywhere. The weeds are also out of control. A few weeks ago I spread compost from my compost pile in spots all over the garden. Usually my compost heats up enough to kill any seeds in it, but apparently this compost did not. So everywhere I put that compost, I have lush patches of weeds sprouting. And they are the worst sort of weeds: chickweed, pigweed, galinsoga, purslane, and sheep sorrel – the hardest ones to get rid of. The poppies are blooming now and I can't get enough of them. The individual flowers are fragile and don't last long, especially in heavy rain. I go out every day to see what new flower has opened.
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| Poppies. |
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| Poppies. |
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| And more poppies. |
We passed another family milestone last week. Josiah got his drivers license on Wednesday. It’s hard to believe the youngest of our children can now drive on his own.
Friday, Saturday, and today, the town of Genesee celebrated their annual Community Days. Stacey and I spent the day in the Genesee Park on Saturday with our barn quilt display. There were other vendors there too. There was a parade in the afternoon and Josiah marched in it with the high school band. There were restored cars and tractors on display in the park. They also cut the ribbon on the new Genesee Fire Hall. They wanted me to go up in a 100' fire truck ladder and take pictures of the fire hall, but I couldn’t do it. I can’t handle heights. So I sent my camera up with someone else. The new fire hall is a very nice facility. In the late afternoon it started to rain, so we packed up and came home.
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| Stacey at Genesee Commnity Days with the Big Pig from WPIG. |
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| The high school band in the parade. |
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| Some of the restored cars. |
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| Part of the new fire hall. |
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| Main street Genesee from 100' up. |
This week will be a week of arrivals and departures. Rachel and her two girls will arrive sometime during the week. They are driving up from Tennessee to spend a few weeks with us. We’re so excited for their visit. Josiah will be leaving on Friday for a month. He will be working on the crew of the Hill Cumorah Pageant from the 26th of June to the 24th of July. We’re pleased and excited that he will have this experience, but we will miss him a lot.
It’s warm and muggy today. It rained while we were at church. I checked my rain gauge when we got home and found three quarters of an inch had fallen. This on top of the four inches that fell during the week. All my rain barrels are full and overflowing.
Today is Fathers Day. I’m am blessed to have a father who has always been a great example of a man who loves his family and loves the Lord. My father is a great man in so many ways – in his profession, in his religion, and in his family. I’m looking forward to a visit from him and my mother in July. As a father, I have been blessed to have a wonderful wife and children and now grandchildren. Being a father is the most important thing I have ever done, my greatest accomplishment, and I have loved it.
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| Sunset at the end of Spring. |
