Our days grow ever longer, with sun up around 5 and sun down by 9:30. Soon the curve will start the downhill slide. In the meantime all creation strives to grow and reproduce.

The Eastern Phoebes have fledged and new eggs occupy this space.

Wildflowers everywhere! Even on my picnic table.

Morels and lilacs bloom at the same time. Our lilacs were hurt by the frost/warming roller coaster we had this year. So were the morels. We unwittingly lucked into some.

It’s worth having Creeping Charlie if we can host a Tri-colored Bumblebee. I’m thinking of adding some (Charlie, not Bee) to my next batch of pasta.

Wild strawberries: one of the Grand Girls favorites. Mine too.

The flags have come and gone. Day lilies will bloom next.

The Great Blue Herons still fly past our house all day long. I can hear them chattering on their nests in the tall pines when I take Zeke for a walk by the river.

This Giant Stonefly graced us with her beauty.

Luckily, no Wood Frogs nearby. They eat insects bigger than they are.

We don’t often get to see Luna Moths. They like deciduous forests, one of which grows on our hillside.

Turtles of all types seek places to lay eggs this time of year. Michael saved this Western Painted Turtle from being stuck in with a drying pond. It is the first year in five we’ve had to water gardens.

Wild Four-O’Clocks put me in mind of my granddad.

Peonies. Summer would be incomplete without them.

There have been riots in The Cities. COVID-19 is still a concern. I work in a system (currently part time) that often is more criminal than it is just. Eggs fall out of nests. Turtles get run down by cars. Bees and bugs contend with pesticides. Yet life is still sweet in mid-June, compelling in its insistence.

The joy of small creatures is our saving grace.