It's June!

It's June and everything, everywhere that grows is green, which means muggy humidity 

and life is bustin' out all over!  I've never seen and heard so many frogs!  The little lily pond up by this, the Kuk Koan temple (a favorite--Sherry Anderson and I hike here; and I went with Jordan at Christmas) is full of these, with red underbellies.  Fun!!!

It's Fathers' Day too, so, let's go for a walk.

As we leave my place (my apartments are just a bit behind these), within a minute or two, we're surrounded by fields of newly planted rice, alongside ready-to-harvest wheat.

Recent rains and heavy winds were hard on more than umbrellas.  These areas of flattened out crops seem to have been visited by a malevolent giant hand.  Farming is not for the faint-hearted.  They're out there day in and day out.  Eventually, their bodies bend and form to the tasks.

 Representative of good and caring parents through out time, they are part of the earth.  

In a world made up of givers and takers,  

with most of us somewhere in between, 

these farmers only give.  

Moving on.  

Tiny wild flowers add a faerie-like shimmer to fields and under green orchards.  Gardens spring up on every plantable patch of land.  Old villages are infused a diverse riot of vegetation, bees, butterflies, tiny birds and graceful, large water fowl (they're too timid to allow themselves to be photographed decently with a simple camera like mine) have returned. 

I LOVE SUMMER! 

 Hollyhocks reign over the landscape in June.

  Along with an effusion of those tiny daisy-type flowers, they brighten up gardens.

Turn ordinary pathways into Gallery walks.

Create gorgeous curtains, borders, and a magnificent entrance for this 

already attractive gazebo by the mountainside.

Hollyhocks stand up beside and celebrate crumbly old rock and cement domiciles and walls.  

Why can't humans join together like this--the old with the new? 

We used to.  Hollyhocks and foliage of all kinds remind us we still should.

Old supports and sustains the new and youth livens up old-age.  

YES.  Flowers, are gorgeous in and of themselves.  

But, they need the support and nourishment which only age and experience can provide.

This ancient canal consistently carries fresh water to every form of life; 

and that old rock wall is as functional as it is beautiful.

Flowers are planted in between rocks.

Most of the oldest village buildings possess no natural beauty or architectural wonder in and of themselves.  Yet, covered with shade-loving vines and the like, they're breathtaking!

Moss and surrounding vegetation, transforms this crumbling, rotting old storage shed.  It, in turn, provides shade, support and nourishment year after returning year for countless form of new life.  

We could frame this and hang it up to admire and remember.

We decorated and shared cupcakes last week in our women's Relief Society activity after church.  

We say thank you to all those strong, dedicated and loving men who provide support 

and make life possible.  God bless you all!  

Now go out and enjoy this June, whatever season of life you're in!