Smell the Roses

It's June! The month when I'd like to hit pause and keep it there twice as long as it lasts. It's the month with lush green growth everywhere, blooming roses, blue and white Penn State skies, and air perfumed with the smell of drying hay.

Our reluctant spring had a growth spurt last week and suddenly turned to embrace summer. The heat is turned off, windows are open day and night, roses are blooming, the garden is growing by leaps and bounds, and I'm going barefoot.

Although summer doesn't officially begin until June 21, summer weather usually arrives by Memorial Day. This year it dragged its feet coming and then pounced in suddenly and sent the temperature soaring from the 60s to 90.

I have reached the stage of life where I have time to enjoy the month of June. There was a time it passed by in a blur as I was swamped with picking either peas and strawberries every day and two weeks of summer Bible school. By the time we were through all that, the beans were ready and then the corn. The hectic pace of canning and freezing continued all summer until I had 100 quarts each of peaches and applesauce under lids. Then it dwindled in September and ended in October.

Now that we're empty nesters, it doesn't take much food around here anymore. We need only one cup of corn for a meal instead of six cups. A quart of applesauce lasts at least three days and it takes us a week to eat a pint of pickles. I really can't say I'm sorry. I didn't mind doing it at the time wouldn't have the energy to put away the hundreds of quarts of food I used to can and freeze.

Now I have time in the summer to smell the roses---read books, write stories, sew, and end the day sitting on the patio watching the sun go down. Life just keeps on getting better and better.