June is busting out all over

First sunny day around here in eons and we weren't the only ones outside enjoying it: we saw cedar waxwings in trees above the creek and up the hill near our neighbors' donkey paddock. A big patch of milkweed attracted bees by the dozens to feed on their drooping clusters of blossoms, while other pollinators buzzed around blooming butterfly weed, black-eyed susans, horse nettles, and daisies. When the sunlight comes from the right angle, ditch-lilies along the creek appear illuminated from within, while the yuccas line the driveway with brilliant white blooms.

All those yuccas are offshoots of a single plant we dug up in our daughter's yard six or eight years ago. Now we have at least a dozen of them growing in our front yard, along the driveway, and near the bridge, even after two of them washed away in last spring's flash flood. And the volunteer hollyhocks are blooming again. They come back every year, but not always in the same place.

Earlier this week I was grumbling that it looked like the spring rains and floods would wash away any hope summer weather, but here we are on the first day of summer soaking in the rays and appreciating the summer colors. Rain is in the forecast again this evening and tomorrow while waters continue to rise in all the local rivers, but for a brief moment this morning, it felt like we might have a summer after all.

My daughter planted one hollyhock in front of our house many years ago, but they keep re-seeding themselves in different parts of the lawn.

All those yuccas!

Red-bellied woodpecker

Milkweed

Swallows were swooping above the neighbors' haymeadow.

Cedar waxwings.

Ditch lilies.