Charmed

The St. Paul Pioneer Press prints “Weatherguide facts” every day. They’re provided by the Freshwater Society. Today’s sounded so beautiful to my ears that I wanted to share it with my friend living in Vietnam. When I think I know heat and humidity I often think of him and the appreciation he feels every time I write of what’s growing in the garden or the coolness of the woods. I don’t try to describe it very often because I can’t. I can’t find the words for the feel of the cool air on my skin or the musty wood-smoke smell. I often don’t know the names for what grows around me. I used to save the calendar the Freshwater Society puts out to aide me in my descriptions of the times of year in Minnesota. Maybe you’ll see why. Maybe you’ll find this about as boring as reading a box-top.

“In southern Minnesota, much of the field corn is being pollinated, small grains are ripe or ripening and the harvest of sweet corn is underway.

Gladiolus is blooming in gardens across the Twin Cities. Up north, evening primrose and pearly everlasting are blooming along roadsides.”

In my yard, the fruit trees are hung with plums, pears and apples.

The heat wave has broken for a two day let-up. The dew point has fallen. Here’s a statistic for you: We have had 108 hours of dew points at 70 or more this summer compared to only 17 hours all of last year.

So we’ve been out in the yard again. Henry wondered the other day where the morning glories went and now is fascinated that they open and close.

Life feels charmed on such days.