Falling in love with Summer

I asked for a way to fall in love with Summer.

I was given Tiger Swallowtails and Sunflowers.

The Tigers have won my heart this Summer.

Their dance has made me forget the heat.

I am smitten.

I am in love with Summer's light.

I am in love with her Prairie Flowers.

Another day of heat advisory.

Still no rain.
So I have begun to water.
I am grateful for my sprinkler.
I enjoyed the splashes.

Life for me is always about relationships.
I have a relationship with Summer.
Her heat and humidity will pass.
The Tigers and Sunflowers will fade.

Today is the feast day of St. Anne.
My patron saint.
The patroness of homemakers. Her emblem is the door.

I was named after my Grandmother.
Anne is my middle name, like hers.
My Grandmother was also my Godmother.

I have a relationship with St. Anne.
I have a relationship with Grandmother.

It is Summertime.
I am falling in love.

Heat Advisory Continues

The Butterflies continue to come to the gardens.

A Giant Swallowtail in the Mimosa,

a Black Swallowtail in the Butterfly Bush

and a Tiger Swallowtail in the Tiger Lilies
 all remind me of relationships.

This has been a Summer for Tiger Swallowtails.

So many have come daily to the gardens

I am wondering if they have a route.

The Wild Bergamot attracts the butterflies and the bees.

I dry the leaves for winter teas.

I am keeping a log of the butterflies.
I am writing down the time of day I see them
 and the plant species they are feeding on.
It is a simple experiment. A simple log.

I have a relationship with the sun.
For the most part in the summer I stay in the shade.
When it is this hot and humid I stay indoors.

I love the Mammoth.
I have a relationship with these Ice Age Mammals.

I think about them.
I think about the Wooly Mammoth and the Columbia Mammoth that once grazed on the Prairie.
I think about their relationship with the First Americans.

I think about the Clovis Peoples and the pre-Clovis.
I think about the end of the Ice Age.
I think about how those that came before lived in the heat.

I wonder if they had trouble with mosquitoes.

I joined the Center for the Study of the First Americans.

The July newsletter arrived yesterday.
I will read every word.

I am also a member of the Xerces Society.
I am waiting for their Summer Newsletter.

Supporting organizations that are
involved in invertebrate conservation
connects me to other bug lovers.

We are counting bees.

The bunnies ate our first Sunflower sprouts so we replanted.
The deer were eating our second plants so we inclosed
the plants behind a chicken wire fence.
We have bees. Lots of bees.

I love watching them.

When the temperatures rise into the 90's
I stand at the back windows watching the birds,
the butterflies and the bees.

It is too hot for me to walk even after sundown.
It is just too hot.

I do my yoga.

I am learning from the bees
and butterflies.
I added the butterfly pose to my afternoon practice.
I wonder if there is a Mammoth pose?

Perhaps a forward bend with an arm extension
and a humming sound.
I shall do this when I am weary of the heat.
When I need to smile.

I see the leaves of the trees are moving slightly in
a gentle breeze from the Southwest.
Not enough wind to blow a storm in.
Not enough wind for a cool down.

I began my new book.

I love Dragons and
Birds too.

Heat wave

The cicadas have grown this past week.
I hear them singing in the middle of the day.

My little caterpillar is also growing.

The Mason Bees do not seem to mind the 100 degrees.

The Sunflowers are loving the heat.

We had to protect the sunflowers.
Deer were eating them up.

I am inside on these hot afternoons.

I am sewing and reading
and following my breath.

Relationships

I have a relationship

with the Tiger Swallowtails.

I love them.

I counted six this afternoon.