Tonight marks the beginning of summer, and for the first time since 1967, June’s full moon, the Strawberry Moon, coincided with summer solstice. This event hasn’t occurred in the Northern Hemisphere in nearly 70 years!
Instead of settling down to read and write at a reasonable hour this evening, the night drew me out. It was an evening meant for marveling at the heavens, chilly to the point of needing a fleece, quiet and still, hardly a breeze. The moonlight drowned out all but the brightest of the stars, and clouds like gossamer swept through the sky.
A beautiful evening. The perfect way to ring in the summer.
Category Archives: Photography
A lingering look at life
Botanical | Black-eyed Susan
Black-eyed susans and milkweed mean that summer is here! Spotted these on the shores of Lakota Lake this afternoon.
The first of the summer season.
Puppy Antics
Baby animals are impossible to hold grudges against. Not that Trixie deserves any grudges just yet, but let’s just say she is all puppy and no training. She is grovellingly sweet – unless, of course, she has something and thinks someone is trying to take it away. The sweetness melts and out comes this ferocious little tiger of a dog. Project number one.
She has already decided that this is home. I’m pretty impressed, considering that this was only day three for the little tyke. So for most of today, we were able to let her roam at will, mainly only chaining her up if my uncle drove by – Because he has a yellow lab who is already Trixie’s favorite buddy, and she will follow Sunny to the ends of the earth. But there is very little risk of her wandering too far. She is sociable and friendly, so pretty much where the people are, there she will be.
We have a new rule on the homestead, and that goes something like this: Anything belongs to Trixie. Anything she might be interested in, if it is conceivably within reach, belongs to her. That’s just how things are right now. Project number two.
There is an unfortunate symbiotic relationship between the cats and the dog. Cats kill rodents, dog eats remains. Perhaps if it happens more rapidly in the future, it will be fine, but Trixie found a very dead rabbit today. As in, full grown rabbit at least a week dead. It was putrid, and was apparently very appetizing. She carried it off and refused to give it up. Refer back to “tiger of a dog.” When Dad got it away from her (she already respects him), she tried fishing it out of the trash can. Nasty. The words “drop it” mean absolutely nothing to her. Neither does the word “come.” Projects number three and four.
As I said, she’s all puppy, and she still thinks she is the size of a kitten. Meaning, she still things she is a lap dog. Sitting down on the porch next to her is an invitation to be mauled, in a puppy-rough kind of a way, where teeth get lightly involved with ears and chins and heads. That’s why the putrid rabbit was not an option. Baby, my sister’s dog and the one we had until about 6 months ago, is a reluctant cuddler. Trixie thrives off of cuddling and rough play.
And she is darling. Absolutely darling. And good company. I took a blanket outside this afternoon, and sat on it to do my Bible reading, and she sat with me watching her world go by, and sharing my bag of granola. She finally collapsed in the shade and fell asleep. I think she had a long day.
The Swimming Hole
Just as we were all starting to wonder when we’d get some summer weather, a heat wave roared in and plunged the region into temperatures in the upper 80s and 90s. And yes, that is considered hot here! We’ve hardly had any rain in the last couple of weeks and the moisture is quickly drying up. It is almost as uncomfortable to walk barefoot across the lawn as to walk barefoot across our gravel driveway.
Yesterday, a bunch of us went over to Little Falls to cool off – Well, the kids were going to cool off. I prefer to watch from the shade. I take forever to get used to water temperatures so generally I just opt out of swimming, although the water yesterday would have been perfect, if I’d been dressed for swimming.
Little Falls used to be only a local haunt, but news of it has spread far and wide, and it is rare to drive past the turn off and see the parking lot empty. But we got down there and had the whole swimming hole to ourselves. The kids splashed and swam, caught fish in buckets, did cannonballs off the rocks, and had a ruckus of a good time.
A passel of butterflies was flittering around the little cove, and finally obliged by posing for a picture. They weren’t bothered by the heat! What color and life in such a tiny creature. 
We’d been there an hour when the sky clouded over a bit and the temperatures cooled – It looked like a storm was brewing, but other than a small rumble of thunder, nothing materialized.
What a great way to beat the heat – With a little bit of country fun.
Little Blue
This little guy caught my eye.
Grey outsides of his wings, but the brightest blue on the inside. God’s Creation is truly to be wondered at.
Happiness is…
To each his own, of course. Some prefer the bustle (chaos) of city living, or even the quiet bustle of town life. Some prefer the opportunities that come with living in the city, the close grocery stores, coffee shops, entertainment, the arts, etc. Some would be bored by what I consider to be the perfect pace of living. I recently had someone ask me what I do for fun. I kind of realized that just about all I do for fun is hiking. That, and photography and writing. I suppose some would be extremely bored by this.
The Hills are in a state of perfection at sunset. Kashka followed me around as I snapped pictures of the cattle that Jack brought out for the summer, of the glowing poppies finally blooming in the overgrown garden, and of the chives which were neglected and left to head out. We’ve had a busy spring, and the garden unfortunately doesn’t weed or plant or prune itself.
The cows contentedly grazed and watched me back as I watched them, and one of the cows headed straight towards me, like she wanted to say hello. The little bull calves, like this one, were skittish but curious. The cows are in the pasture closest to the cabin, so we can hear them calling to each other, and can smell the warm, sweet odor, which I love.
The Kashka-Cat is a darling. She loves to be underfoot, in the way, and around “her people.” She and Luna make themselves scarce when we have company, but she and her brother are quite the life of the party when it is just the family. I worked on my Bible reading in the Miner’s Cabin before I went to get Anna from work and, true to form, Kashka roamed around the cabin for a good little while, finally ending up on the sofa with me. There is nothing quite like the company of a cat.
Happiness is a cabin, a camera, and the company of a cat. Perfection.
Song Dog Journal 