Sumer is icumen in
Middle English Modern English
Sumer is icumen in Summer has come in,
Lhude sing cuccu Loudly sing, cuckoo!
Groweþ sed The seed grows
and bloweþ med And the meadow blooms,
and springþ þe wde nu And the wood springs anew,
Sing cuccu Sing, cuckoo!
Awe bleteþ after lomb The ewe bleats after her lamb,
lhouþ after calue cu The cow lows after her calf;
Bulluc sterteþ The bullock stirs,
bucke uerteþ The stag farts
murie sing cuccu Merrily sing, cuckoo!
Cuccu cuccu Cuckoo, cuckoo,
Wel singes þu cuccu Well you sing, cuckoo,
ne swik þu nauer nu Never stop now.
Sing cuccu nu • Sing cuccu. Sing cuckoo now. Sing cuckoo.
Sing cuccu • Sing cuccu nu Sing cuckoo. Sing cuckoo, now!
Sumer is icumen in is the oldest song/poem known in the English language. It was written around 1261 in the Wessex dialect of Middle English over a hundred years before Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales. The composer's identity is unknown. It is the oldest known musical composition featuring six-part polyphony. I think it is a magical piece of music and a fitting way to greet the season. If you want to listen to it, here is a link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4FU8yz4BYY.
Middle English Modern English
Sumer is icumen in Summer has come in,
Lhude sing cuccu Loudly sing, cuckoo!
Groweþ sed The seed grows
and bloweþ med And the meadow blooms,
and springþ þe wde nu And the wood springs anew,
Sing cuccu Sing, cuckoo!
Awe bleteþ after lomb The ewe bleats after her lamb,
lhouþ after calue cu The cow lows after her calf;
Bulluc sterteþ The bullock stirs,
bucke uerteþ The stag farts
murie sing cuccu Merrily sing, cuckoo!
Cuccu cuccu Cuckoo, cuckoo,
Wel singes þu cuccu Well you sing, cuckoo,
ne swik þu nauer nu Never stop now.
Sing cuccu nu • Sing cuccu. Sing cuckoo now. Sing cuckoo.
Sing cuccu • Sing cuccu nu Sing cuckoo. Sing cuckoo, now!
Sumer is icumen in is the oldest song/poem known in the English language. It was written around 1261 in the Wessex dialect of Middle English over a hundred years before Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales. The composer's identity is unknown. It is the oldest known musical composition featuring six-part polyphony. I think it is a magical piece of music and a fitting way to greet the season. If you want to listen to it, here is a link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4FU8yz4BYY.
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| Sumer is icumen in. |
Yesterday at 5:44 p.m. we arrived at the Summer Solstice, a day I both celebrate and mourn. We’ve now reached the point in the year where our part of the earth is most tilted toward the sun, which brings us to the longest day. This morning the sun rose at its furthest northern point on our horizon, almost dead center on highway 49 when I face east while standing at the end of my meadow. At the winter solstice it rises far to the south of that over Fox Hill. This morning it began to grow light at 4: 30 and the sun rose at 5:37 and this evening it will set at 8:50, but twilight will linger past 9:30. That’s 17 hours of light and that’s worth celebrating. However, tomorrow the sun will begin its retreat to the south and the days will start to grow shorter again. That’s cause to mourn. Summer, with the longest days of the year, seems to pass faster than all the other seasons. The earth doesn’t seem to want to hold on to the light and warmth. It surrenders to the dark and the cold too quickly.
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| The path of the sun at summer and winter solstices. |
I spent a lot of time helping my garden recover from the hard frosts we had last weekend. On Monday morning I spent three hours driving around to all the nurseries and greenhouses around here looking for tomato plants. No one had any. And every place I went, there were other people there looking for the same thing. When I got back from that fruitless endeavor, I spent a few hours cleaning out frost-killed plants in the vegetable garden and flower beds. As I worked, the list of casualties grew longer and longer. In addition to the tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, melons, corn, beans, nasturtiums, cannas, marigolds, dahlias, and morning glories, I also discovered that the cosmos, zinnias, beets, and chard were killed and the kiwi vines, irises, and even the poppies were damaged. It was a very destructive frost, especially since it came so late in the season when the tender plants were so far along in their growth.
You’d expect, having lived in this place for over twenty years now, that I’d be used to this sort of thing, but I’m not. Old timers who have lived here all their lives have told me that they remember some years when there was frost every single month of the year. They’ve horrified me with stories about snow in July. That hasn’t happened in the time we’ve lived here and I hope it never does. Perhaps my problem is that I’m too emotionally invested in my garden. After starting seeds in March, babying seedlings through the long weeks, and then finally planting them out only to have them destroyed by a frost in the middle of June is a personal tragedy for me. It’s like a pet has died. I mourn for pumpkins I’ll never know and all those heirloom tomatoes that might have been. I don’t know how farmers who depend on a good harvest for their livelihood deal with such loss.
On Tuesday two friends came to my rescue with my tomato problem. A friend from church, Jeremy Harrison, let me know that he has plenty of tomato plants in his garden that are still small enough to transplant. He invited me to come out to his farm and get some. And a friend from school, Sue Reigh, called that morning to tell me she found a nursery up in Troupsburg, New York, that had tomato plants for sale. So that afternoon Miriam and I set off on another tomato adventure. First we drove out to Harrison Valley to visit Sue and look at her garden. Her vegetables fared much better than mine did. From there, we drove up to Troupsburg to the Young Hickory Flower Farm. We were delighted to find they had lots of beautiful tomato plants for sale. I bought two six packs – one of a variety called Supersonic and another of Celebrity. I’ve never grown either variety before. According to the catalog, “Supersonic produces heavy yields of large, meaty tomatoes of excellent quality.” And Celebrity is an “All-purpose variety with superb flavor, disease resistance and heavy yield on determinate plants.” After that, we drove out to Jeremy’s farm up near Whitesville. He has a big tomato patch and kindly dug up two Amish Paste tomatoes for me. After three hours out and about, Miriam and I returned home and planted everything. So I’m happy to report that we once again have tomatoes in the garden.
You’d expect, having lived in this place for over twenty years now, that I’d be used to this sort of thing, but I’m not. Old timers who have lived here all their lives have told me that they remember some years when there was frost every single month of the year. They’ve horrified me with stories about snow in July. That hasn’t happened in the time we’ve lived here and I hope it never does. Perhaps my problem is that I’m too emotionally invested in my garden. After starting seeds in March, babying seedlings through the long weeks, and then finally planting them out only to have them destroyed by a frost in the middle of June is a personal tragedy for me. It’s like a pet has died. I mourn for pumpkins I’ll never know and all those heirloom tomatoes that might have been. I don’t know how farmers who depend on a good harvest for their livelihood deal with such loss.
On Tuesday two friends came to my rescue with my tomato problem. A friend from church, Jeremy Harrison, let me know that he has plenty of tomato plants in his garden that are still small enough to transplant. He invited me to come out to his farm and get some. And a friend from school, Sue Reigh, called that morning to tell me she found a nursery up in Troupsburg, New York, that had tomato plants for sale. So that afternoon Miriam and I set off on another tomato adventure. First we drove out to Harrison Valley to visit Sue and look at her garden. Her vegetables fared much better than mine did. From there, we drove up to Troupsburg to the Young Hickory Flower Farm. We were delighted to find they had lots of beautiful tomato plants for sale. I bought two six packs – one of a variety called Supersonic and another of Celebrity. I’ve never grown either variety before. According to the catalog, “Supersonic produces heavy yields of large, meaty tomatoes of excellent quality.” And Celebrity is an “All-purpose variety with superb flavor, disease resistance and heavy yield on determinate plants.” After that, we drove out to Jeremy’s farm up near Whitesville. He has a big tomato patch and kindly dug up two Amish Paste tomatoes for me. After three hours out and about, Miriam and I returned home and planted everything. So I’m happy to report that we once again have tomatoes in the garden.
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| New tomatoes. |
All week long the days were pleasant and mild. A few of the mornings were a bit chilly, but once the sun was up, things warmed up right away. My morning walks each morning were a delight. They were cutting and baling hay in the fields above us and the farmers were up even earlier than I was. As I walked up the road, the sweet smell of drying hay, one of my favorite summer perfumes, filled the air. We had a beautiful sunset on Wednesday.
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| Scenes from my morning walks. |
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| Farmers haying at sunrise. |
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| Scenes from my morning walks. |
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| Scenes from my morning walks. |
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| Scenes from my morning walks. |
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| Sunset on Wednesday. |
It’s been dry. I had to water parts of the garden by hand during the week and the lawn was starting to turn brown. I gauge the need for rain on my rain barrel down at the barn. It collects water from the barn roof and I use it to fill my chicken waterer. When the rain barrel approaches half full, I know we need rain. It usually rains often enough to keep that from happening. I rarely have to bring water down from the house in the summer. Last week the barrel went below half full. It rained very briefly on Thursday afternoon, just enough to tease me. It wasn’t even enough to dampen the dust. I had to resort to running the sprinkler in the garden to keep everything from wilting.
The frost finished off the irises. I was sad to see them finish early. They met an untimely end. Now we are in prime poppy time. The oriental poppies (Papaver orientale) are finishing up. The common poppies (Papaver rhoeas) are in full flower. And the opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) are yet to come. The peonies are opening at last. There are foxgloves and cornflowers in bloom and larkspur in bud. And June is the month when my old rose bush blooms. For a few short weeks I revel in its ruffled fragrant flowers.
The frost finished off the irises. I was sad to see them finish early. They met an untimely end. Now we are in prime poppy time. The oriental poppies (Papaver orientale) are finishing up. The common poppies (Papaver rhoeas) are in full flower. And the opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) are yet to come. The peonies are opening at last. There are foxgloves and cornflowers in bloom and larkspur in bud. And June is the month when my old rose bush blooms. For a few short weeks I revel in its ruffled fragrant flowers.
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| A patch of poppies. |
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| Papaver rhoeas. |
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| One of my peonies. |
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| Cornflowers. |
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| My old rose. |
The fireflies are out now. I love to go out in the twilight and watch them. They seem magical to me. Because we had so much lingering cold weather, the peepers have stayed on later than usual. And now it’s time for the bullfrogs too. Add to that the evening fragrance of the mock orange and a walk through the yard in the twilight with fireflies, peepers, and bullfrogs is truly magical.
The Thayns came up for the weekend. They arrived on Friday night. Early on Saturday morning Tabor set off on his own to go fishing. The rest of us went a little later in the morning to do a service project at the Episcopal Church in Coudersport. The flowerbeds there were in need of attention and the congregants that attend there are few in number and elderly. Kurt and Julie and our friends the Dunns joined us. We spent several hours pulling weeds and trimming. When we finished, the Shilligs treated everyone to pizza and the Dunns treated us to ice cream.
The Thayns came up for the weekend. They arrived on Friday night. Early on Saturday morning Tabor set off on his own to go fishing. The rest of us went a little later in the morning to do a service project at the Episcopal Church in Coudersport. The flowerbeds there were in need of attention and the congregants that attend there are few in number and elderly. Kurt and Julie and our friends the Dunns joined us. We spent several hours pulling weeds and trimming. When we finished, the Shilligs treated everyone to pizza and the Dunns treated us to ice cream.
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| Weeding at the Episcopal Church. |
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| Weeding at the Episcopal Church. |
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| Ice cream! |
As the first official day of summer, yesterday was perfect. It was sunny and hot. The sky was blue with huge cumulus clouds floating by. There was a soft warm breeze. I spent the afternoon doing work in the garden. When it was time to do the afternoon chores, Mabel went down to the barn with me. At three, she is very loquacious. She chatters away and says amazing things. The only problem is, she pronounces some words funny and I can’t understand her sometimes. She substitutes “y’s” for “s’s” and will say things like “I want to yo you yumpting” for “I want to show you something.” I’ve figured that one out. Usually, when I don’t understand and after asking her to repeat what she said a few times, she tries a different tack that usually makes me laugh. For instance, while doing the chores she kept asking me about the chickens’ rood. I didn’t know what she meant. “Their rood?” I asked. “Yes, their rood.” “What is their rood?” I asked. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “You know, like their dinner.” She meant food. I’m amazed at how funny and clever she is.
In the afternoon we went swimming at Erway’s pond, a fitting thing to do on the first day of summer. The water was cold and full of tadpoles, but the sun was hot and the water felt good. When we got back from that, Tabor and I built an extension onto the pigpen. The pigs are getting big and although they really had enough room already, I wanted to give them a little more space to keep them entertained. On hot days like yesterday, I pull the hose down to the pigpen and spray them off. They love it. And it makes a big mud puddle that they love to roll and wallow in.
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| June catching tadpoles. |
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| At Erway's pond. |
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| Tabor visiting the pigs. |
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| The pigpen with its new addition. |
After dinner last evening, we went over to the Shillig’s house to sit and visit on their back porch. It was a lovely evening and it was nice to sit and talk. It’s been a long time since we last did that. After it got dark, we were looking at the stars. We live in a place famous for its dark sky. There are no big cities nearby to interfere with our night sky. As we were looking up and identifying constellations and naming stars, we saw a line of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites pass by – 60 of them in a line, evenly spaced out. It was amazing. We saw a lot of other satellites and the International Space Station go by too. New lights in the night sky.
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| Visiting on the Shillig's back porch. |
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| Sunset on the first day of summer. |
Today is Father’s Day. It was nice to have three of my children and four of my grandchildren here with me. I also hope to hear from my other children during the course of the day. Being a father has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. Having the father I do has been another of my greatest blessings. My dad is a great example of a loving father who has tried hard all his life to love and provide for his children and teach them to love and serve the Lord. I thank God for my dad and for my children who have taught me a little about being a father.
We had a nice Fathers’ Day celebration. After church we had tacos for lunch. After lunch Tabor and I opened gifts. We had pie and ice cream as a treat. Then it was time for the Thayns to go home. Before they left we went down to the barn and caught four of our younger chicks for them to add to their flock. They just left a few minutes ago. They’ll be back in two weeks to celebrate Independence Day with us. There are fun times ahead.
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| This morning. |
