Monday, June 4, 2012

The birds sing at dawn.

June 4.

The birds sing at dawn. What sounds to be awakened by! If only our sleep, our dreams, are such as to harmonize with the song, the warbling of the birds, ushering in the day! They appear comparatively silent an hour or two later.

The dandelions are now almost all gone to seed, and children may now see if "your mother wants you." 

The golden alexanders is called Zizia aurea. The cistus is out. Lupines in prime. The Canada snapdragon, that little blue flower that lasts so long, grows with the lupines under Fair Haven. The early chickweed with the star-shaped flower is common in fields now.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 4, 1852

An old New England superstition says that if you fail to dislodge all the dandelion seeds after blowing three times, it is a sign your mother wants you back home.  R. Webster, The Encyclopedia of Superstitions  74 (2008).

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