We’ve arrived at the season that I live for, the time I consider to be the normal state of the world. I don’t mean the sociopolitcal world, that’s far from normal right now. No, I mean the natural world. These days are what I think the world should be like – long hours of light, lush green grass, a flourishing garden, profuse wild flowers, fireflies in the evening, birds singing all day, bullfrogs croaking, warm days, cool nights. All the other seasons are just the build up and the let down to these lovely, perfect days that run through June and July. The other seasons play a necessary part in order for these days to exist and they have their merits, but they have their demerits too – mostly related to cold. Late spring and early summer are exactly the way I think a perfect world should be. At least when it actually happens that way.
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| The long border on Thursday. |
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| The oriental poppies have begun to bloom. |
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| The very first rose. |
We had some very warm weather last week, hot even. At least for Potter County. We were in the high 80's most of the week. We even hit 91° on Wednesday afternoon. It was great. I love hot days when I can work hard in the morning and the late afternoon when the temperature is cooler and then take it easy during the hottest part of the day. Hot days here usually don’t last long. When the temperature hits the high 80's and 90's you can be sure it will soon cool down again. And that’s just what happened – to excess.
We went down to the Thayn’s house for the weekend to celebrate Miriam’s birthday with them. We left on Friday afternoon. On Friday morning I prepared everything for our departure. I filled the pig’s waterer and feeder to the top. I set up food and water for the chickens to get them through the weekend. I watered all my potted plants, indoors and out. I took one last stroll through the garden and the orchard just to make sure things looked in order. Then, just before we left, I checked the weather and my heart sank. The forecast said the temperature would drop to 39° on Friday night and 36° on Saturday night. This being Cold Gold, I knew it could actually be seven to ten degrees colder than the forecast here. That would put us well below freezing. That would be a disaster. And I wouldn’t be here to do anything about it, even though at this point, I knew there wasn’t much I could do anyway.
Our time at the Thayns was great. The main part of Saturday we spent in Ohio on a Shillig family history tour. The original Shillig immigrant ancestor, George Shillig, was born in 1788 in Alsace, which was then part of Germany. He came to America with his family in 1828 and settled in Columbiana County, Ohio. They were Catholics and he helped to establish and build the Church of St. Philip Neri in the town of Dungannon. George died in 1851 and is buried in the cemetery there. We visited all those sites. We met Miriam Baughman, Stacey’s fifth cousin once removed. Our guide was Joe McKarns , a parishioner at the church there. After touring around, we had lunch at a place called the Spread Eagle Tavern and Inn in Hanoverton, Ohio. It was a great place with a lot of history and good food. After that we drove back to the Thayn’s house and celebrated Miriam’s birthday. This morning we had church together. After that we went for a walk in the woods, had lunch, and then drove home.
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| We arrive at the Thayn's house. |
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| The Church of St. Philip Neri. |
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| Our guide, Joe. |
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| Stacey and her cousin Miriam Baughman. |
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| The Spread Eagle Tavern. |
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| Miriam's birthday. |
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| Our walk in the woods. |
When we arrived home, the first thing I did was inspect the garden. It’s heartbreaking. Tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, beans, corn, cucumbers, dahlias, nasturtiums, marigolds, morning glories, and cannas – all dead. Other plants are damaged and will recover, but it will take time and harvests will be delayed. The orchard was spared as far as I can tell. The apples are big enough that they seem to have survived. Hardy things like cabbage, peas, and onions are fine. I will try to start again. I have some corn, bean, squash, and cucumber seed I can replant, but I’ll have to go out and try to find tomato and flower plants to buy. At this point the nurseries are all picked over and the only plants left are potbound.
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| Dead tomatoes. |
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| Dead dahlias. |
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| A pot of nasturtiums and cannas. |
So in just a few days we went from unseasonably hot to abnormally cold weather. My dream days have been damaged. The normal state of the natural world is not normal and I am in despair. I keep hearing talk about the “New Normal” out in the sociopolitical world, which is not normal and should not be considered normal at all. Now my garden, my refuge from that world has been blighted too. Nature has a way of healing herself if given a chance. That gives me a little hope as I look out on my shriveled garden. I hope that healing comes to the sociopolitical world soon too.
