The land and sky bring us deeper and deeper into early summer.
The litany of procession of blossoming continues: It is the time that purple coneflowers and pokeweed and queen Anne’s lace and Hollyhocks begin to flower.
Today is the 160th day of the calendar year, and the length of the night has been reduced to just a few minutes from nine hours all along the 40th Parallel. The evening sky is full of Leo and the Corona Borealis and Hercules. Cygnus is rising the east.
Average temperatures have risen approximately 50 degrees since the solstice, and the floral and faunal seasons that have come and gone since winter accumulate in fallen petals and new fledglings.
How many small seasons might the year contain in all? Seasons such as rhubarb pie season or lily season or fledgling robin season? The eye of the casual season beholder could count a thousand, maybe two or three thousand.
And connecting those immediate phases with the motions of the stars creates a kind of unity, brings everything together. Perceived side by side, the mixed messages of plant and planet collude to fuse cause and effect, space and time.
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with notes for the final week of early summer. In the meantime, notice this week’s seasons – like the season of blossoms on the tall yucca plants or the season of the fat moon in the night sky.
