One of the classroom assistants at the school gave me a tray of rooted gardenia cuttings on the last day before summer break. They're very small yet, so they're still in the tray they came in, sitting in filtered sunlight on the back porch. This morning a single, perfect gardenia blossom had appeared. It smells like heaven.
The Brandywine tomato plants also have a few tiny yellow flowers, but they seem disinclined to actually turn into fruit. I remembered why I always got so frustrated growing them in the past; even when the weather is tomato-growing perfect (as it's been here for the past week or two), and even when the plants themselves are huge and green and healthy, they're stingy with their flowers and slow to set fruit. I won't be growing them again, no matter how good they taste. It's just not worth it.
Last night as we sat out on the porch enjoying the pearly-pink sunset and the unseasonably cool, pleasant weather, I noticed bats flying in curlicues in the air above our driveway. When I stepped outside to get a better look, I discovered that there were only three bats, but several large dragonflies were joining in with them in their sunset sky dance. Despite being less than 100 yards from the creek, we've seen very, very few mosquitoes at this house. I suppose the bats and dragonflies have a feast of them every evening in the summertime.
And have you ever noticed that dragonflies are companionable little creatures? They always seem to hover close when you're outside. Just this morning I was sitting in the back yard soaking up a little sun, and a dragonfly landed on my big toe and stayed there for a minute or two. What friendly little animals!
Ah, June.
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