July – the heart of summer! In Kentucky the weather is hot and sometimes stormy. The crops are laid by. That means they’ve grown too big to plow. The gardens are coming on and some of the neighbors are bragging about their first ripe tomato. They used to brag over the back fences. Now they post pictures and brag on Facebook.
July – when the wild blackberries hang heavy on the vines for those hardy enough to trek out to the fields and brave the briars for the sweet reward of homemade blackberry pie or jam. That’s what we did this p.m. My son and his family came out to pick berries. The five-year-old was eager to get out of the truck and started. Somehow none of the berries ever ended up in her bucket. If she was going to challenge the thorns on the briars, she was going to get the reward of the berries right away. I didn’t take my camera or I would be showing you little Miss Eager Berry in the blackberry patch.
Instead I’m showing you the milkweed. I waded through grass and weeds to find this a few weeks ago because generally they are butterfly magnets. I was disappointed when only one butterfly was tasting the nectar. Sometimes we get our expectations too high. And sometimes we forget to look at all.
I passed up watching the city’s fireworks on the 4th. With one bunch of the grandkids. I could have heard their squeals of delight, but I thought I had to go home and work. You know, I should have stayed and smelled the roses. Or in this case, watched the roses bloom in the sky. And go boom.
The book will get written. The words will come. It will happen. But it will also happen that the roses will bloom, the blackberries will ripen, and the grandkids will need hugs. Or maybe it’s the grandma who needs the hugs.
Hope July is going well for you and that you are taking plenty of time to smell the roses.