Sweet Summer To-do List

The first few lines from June-chapter...

in this book...

kindled a sweet summer to-do-list...

(already in beautiful motion)

Sample strawberries (or blueberries) and cherries and peas...

Sit in a sauna of sunshine and breeze...

Sample strawberries (or blueberries) and cherries and peas

Sit in a sauna of sunshine and breeze

Wade through cool shade to find the perfect nook

Steep in sweet solace of leaf-song and book

Gather fresh goodness from garden-buffets

Fill bowls and pitchers with flower-bouquets

Find reasons to celebrate simple joys

Rain on the roses, school-free girls and boys

Early sunrises and ling'ring sunsets

Crackling campfires with spark-pirouettes 

Mischievous puppies, and the thrumming beat

Of hummingbird's hover and dashing bare feet

Listen to song-sparrow lyrics, be awed

By timeless beauty of sky, sea and sod

Marvel at treasure tipped from mercy's jars

How counting blessings is like counting stars

Slow down and savour summer's wonder-lust  

Inhale dusk's elixir of dew and dust

Cherish the moments that sparkle and glim

Capture their essence in poem and hymn

Blue-misted skylines and daisy-fringed lanes 

Rooster reveilles and cicada refrains  

Foliage-draped arbour and and trellis-abloom 

With tapestries from a God-threaded loom

 

Stand nose to nose with rose and peony

Pause to be taught by ant and honey-bee     

Don't be embarrassed; have heart-to-heart talks

With zinnias, carrots, lavender, hollyhocks

Where toil midst spoil of seeds planted in spring

Humbles our stance amongst plants, flourishing 

Don't let the frenzy of haste steal the show

Where tides of Heaven-glimpses ebb and flow

Slow down enough to feel kindly content

Before the ballad of summer is spent 

Balance the beckoning of work and play

Drink from the fount God refills every day

With flower-bowers and cloud-dappled deeps 

With summer sighing where the willow weeps

While the child chatters for happiness' sake 

While echoes scatter in childhood's sweet wake 

While cups of gladness overflow with praise

While we thank God for glorious, summer days

My, but sweet summer's joy flows, free-for-all

My, but it kindles a fond/fine madrigal

Where what we do with Measure of Today

Melds into keepsakes to treasure for aye 

My then, how holy summer-moments spill

Lord,  help me slowly to savour each thrill 

Janet Martin

Wonderful, Wonderful June

Ps.104:1&24 (read the whole glorious chapter HERE)

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, You are very great:

You are clothed with honor and majesty,...

O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all.
The earth is full of Your possessions—

June makes us merry with strawberry mirth...

Today we begin the last week of June!!

A reminder to savour June's colour and fragrance-dense flavour-favour of moments...

Wisteria wands wave in pale purple plumes...

Peony pom-poms flaunt pink opulence

Spawning slow strolls through earth’s grand garden rooms...

June is a jubilant zephyr that sighs

In treetops lavished with leaf-violins...

June is a cherub with laughing blue eyes...

June is a bare foot belle; see how she grins

Clad in unspun threads of lupine and rose...

Honeysuckle-pendants...

 and white petal-snows...

June-beauty burgeons at every turn

Raindrops bejewel each bloom, blade and bell...

Nooks are embellished with ivy and fern...

Bridal veil trails on the ground; drapes the fence

Wisteria wands wave in pale purple plumes

Peony pom-poms flaunt pink opulence

Spawning slow strolls through earth’s grand garden rooms

Hummingbird darts like a bard torn between

Duty and beauty; prudence and June-green

June is a jubilant zephyr that sighs

In treetops lavished with leaf-violins

June is a cherub with laughing blue eyes

June is a bare foot belle; see how she grins

Clad in unspun threads of lupine and rose

Honeysuckle-pendants and white petal-snows 

Wild phlox meander through ditches and dell

June-beauty burgeons at every turn

Raindrops bejewel each bloom, blade and bell

Nooks are embellished with ivy and fern

Authoring worship from each awe-filled heart

Summer, sweet summer, how lovely thou art

June makes us merry with strawberry mirth

June is the flower-frilled crest of the year

June is a picture of Heaven on earth

June is a cup overflowing with cheer

And just as youth’s bloom is so swiftly spent

So too, soon June will fold up Her tent

So, pause for a moment and look around

Savor the flavor of early sunrise

Let summer’s advent delight and confound

Bursting with birdsong, and first butterflies

Treasure the pleasure of halcyon hues

Twilight prolonging apricot adieus

Wheat fields a-glimmer beneath breeze-baton

Shimmering silver, on the verge of gold

Garden-fresh salad-fare, second to none

Praise God from whom seed miracles unfold

Praise Him for summer’s flower-festooned boon

Praise Him for wonderful, wonderful June

Janet Martin

So, pause for a moment and look around

Savor the flavor of early sunrise...

Let summer’s advent delight and confound

Bursting with birdsong, and first butterflies...

(or moths!)

Three Cecropia moths have been delighting us!

Wheat fields a-glimmer beneath breeze-baton

Shimmering silver, on the verge of gold...

Garden-fresh salad-fare, second to none

Praise God from whom seed miracles unfold...

Praise Him for summer’s flower-festooned boon

Praise Him for wonderful, wonderful June

The Joy of June (makes glad the heart)

Nature's fingers are threaded through with petal-floss...

and gossamer scarves, trailing skylines, misty-blue...

Ps.150:6

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

 Praise the Lord!

May swept by in a busy blur without opportunity

to grapple its gladness for spring-things to page!

Finally a rainy June morning allows time for the Poet

to purge Her soul of pleasures to share

and hopefully bring joy to fellow June-lovers! 

Nature’s Artist breathes upon

Earth’s stage, with leaf-refurbished isles

And coral light of early dawn

God...gilds fronds with jewels of rain...

The joy of June makes glad the heart

And stirs a soul-sweet psalm of praise

Where bliss time cannot change imparts

The happiness of summer days

This is the Time of singing birds

Of cheery chime of flower-bell

Of hundred hues of green that girds

The sunny hill and bowered dell

Of gardens reaching for the moon

Of days that linger gloriously

Beneath awnings, where azure noon

Kindles dusk’s drawn-out panoply

Nature's fingers are threaded through

With petal-floss and gossamer

Scarves, trailing skylines, misty-blue

And woven with hymn-tinctured shirr  

A universal childhood smiles

As Nature’s Artist breathes upon

Earth’s stage, with leaf-refurbished isles

And coral light of early dawn

Winter-weary spirits once more

Soar with hope, burgeoning and hale

Where, like each joyous June before

God tips a lily-laden grail

…and gilds fronds with jewels of rain

And fuels blossom-to-fruit boon

And makes hearts humbly glad again

With summer’s sweet, sweet joys of June

Janet Martin

Of gardens reaching for the moon...

(With this rain the garden grew overnight!!)

This is the Time of singing birds...