Turkey Tracks: June Days

Turkey Tracks:  June 13, 2013

June Days

Today is one of those quintessential Maine spring days.

The air is clean, crystal clear, fresh, and smells of the lilac which is blooming everywhere.

It’s sunny, but a long-sleeve cotton shirt feels perfect.

By nightfall, the cool streams in and a sweater is nice.  A blanket on the bed at night feels lovely, especially if you sleep with an open window at your head, as I do.

Sister Susan just spent a week here.  We got a lot of rain while she was here, but on rainy days we went to movies and found indoor pursuits.  (We loved the new Star Wars movie and the Robert Redford film, THE COMPANY WE KEEP.)

We had a glorious time up in Acadia viewing the view from the top of Cadillac Mountain.  No camera shot can capture that 360 degree vision of lakes, mountains, ocean, islands, rocks, green trees, colorful mosses, blue sky, sailing ships, and on and on.  I have renewed interest in taking the older grandchildren up there this summer.

We had a sunny lunch at the Waterfront one day, and you can see that the harbor is filling up with boats now:

In Belfast, Susan was fascinated with the lively window boxes that are just starting to plump out.   Window boxes line the rows of shops in all our little towns and they are so beautiful.

Here’s a close-up of one of the above window boxes.  Soon these flowers will spill and drape over the box’s sides.

I love the way these window boxes are enhancing the paintings in the store:

The striped yellow and white petunia in the middle of this window box is the “petunia of the year” this year.  I think it’s called “lemon stripe.”

We were both amused at this Belfast visitor:

We visited Mainely Pottery, of course.  And, had a late/lunch/tea at Fromviandoux, which is always so much fun.

The lupine is blooming, and I don’t have a single picture.  Susan had never seen them and was fascinated.  I have posted pictures in the past, so if you search on lupine at the search button on the right sidebar of this blog, you can see lupine pictures.

Susan loved the rock walls you see in Maine as much as I do.  This time of year you can see them clearly.  Later, perennial plants grow up and fill in the spaces in front of the rocks.  Here are two rock walls from neighbor Sarah Rheault’s garden:

And:

The rock walls in my garden are embedded into the hills, so they function differently.  Here’s the end of one, which “Sky Watcher” guards.  I gave him some shade and a cairn of his own this year:

The garden is lush, lush.  The strawberry plants are loaded with fruit:

Beedy Parker’s kale came back AND reseeded itself.  It’s blooming now, and the bees love it.

You can get Beedy Parker’s kale seeds from FEDCO.  (Their catalog is an amazing document–there is a wealth of information about growing all kinds of plants in it.)

The white violets are gone now, but weren’t they gorgeous!  They’ve spread in the shady bed on the north south of the house.

The tomatoes are hanging in there with all the rain.  The garlic is thriving.  The zukes are up.  Ditto the winter squash and many of the beans.  The peas are thriving.  The cukes are laggards so far, and the cold frame is full of radish and lettuce:

I’m pulling radish now and will transplant some of the lettuce to the radish side of the cold frame.

These summer days stretch before me, beckoning and teasing with all their pleasures.  Life is full and rich with…life.