Spirit-lifters

At mid-afternoon on Monday came a break in the cloud and temperatures began to moderate toward what is more normal.

Signs in the village indicate that another attempt will be made the weekend of June 5th to hold the annual balloon festival which last year I believe amounted to a rendezvous in the school parking lot.

In the 7 years we’ve been here, I only recall seeing the balloons airbourne once, in 2019. The festival was cancelled the following two years because of Covid. Ever since, it seems to have coincided with bad weather. I believe hardy enthusiasts may have lifted off a couple of times, but we did not see them.

Hot-air ballooning seems an impractical sort of hobby and prone to disappointment, I would have thought, but I’ve never been up in one and perhaps the experience makes it worthwhile.

Someone I knew very vaguely years ago was seriously into ballooning, which was in contrast to his regular occupation as a Concorde flight engineer.

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Just as we were dishing up cat suppers on Monday, Grant exclaimed:

“Is that a baby?”

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It promptly picked up a large carrot and wrestled with it but peanuts were easier.

According to the evidence, last year the groundhog babies did not appear until June 8th.

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Then, on Tuesday morning, “our” little black squirrel arrived.

We hadn’t seen it for some ten days, so its appearance cheered us up.

Squirrel friends never stay with us for long, so we thought it might have taken itself off already, to wherever it is that squirrels go. I don’t think it is necessarily over the rainbow, as they depart in significant numbers and often all at once, but they do not return.

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Animal sightings always cheer us up, even when it’s only a dog in a window. Passing through Greenwich, there are two adjacent windows to be checked. Occasionally, the above dog has two companions, but far more often we are – dogless 🙁

Perhaps it is true about returning to childhood in one’s old age. While shopping recently we came upon a lady with a small dog sitting in her cart. It put its head on one side and looked at me. I must have had a dopey expression on my face because the owner smiled and said it was okay to say hello, so of course – I did!

It is no wonder animals are such good therapy. They so lift one’s spirits.

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Here’s another spirit-lifter.

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Or two. We have a lot of skunk visitors!

Skunks are dainty, pretty creatures. But I do wish they would have their altercations away from the house. Irate skunk is not an odour I much care for..

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It completely overpowers the heady scent of lilac.

There are worse stinks, but not many. Fortunately, it dissipates. Eventually.

It is amusing to see much larger creatures treating skunks with deference. Caution?

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Flowers are spirit-lifters too, though they do not work as well for me as they are so short-lived, especially cut flowers. To me, cutting flowers is like caging birds.

Florists would perhaps not want that idea to catch on, but I think it unlikely.

A much more serious danger, that flowers are becoming an unaffordable luxury.

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Grasses and wildflowers once again decorate our roadways.

These flowers, I discovered, are not wild phlox but “dames rocket”, brought over from Europe in the 1600’s. It is invasive and destroys native plants.

Never-the-less, the flowers are very pretty among the waving grass.

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Speedwell is an example of a flower that lasts no time at all. I love their pretty blue faces and appreciate that they appear year after year, but I wish they bloomed longer, like black-eyed Susan that does not show until later but then goes on until first frost.

How diverse Nature is!