ZtonePhruit: A Book of the Seasons: July 15 (berries, grasses, bobolinks, midsummer moods, reflections)

Thursday, July 15, 2021

A Book of the Seasons: July 15 (berries, grasses, bobolinks, midsummer moods, reflections)

The year is but a succession of days,

and I see that I could assign some office to each day

which, summed up, would be the history of the year.

Henry Thoreau, August 24, 1852

July 15.

July 15, 2013

Bobolinks link link

amid the tall rue that now

whitens the meadow.

July 15, 1856

Thoughts driven inward –

clouds and trees reflected by

the still, smooth water.

July 15, 1854

July 15, 2019

Vaccinium vacillans berries. July 15, 1857

Gather a few Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum. July 15, 1859

Raspberries, in one swamp, are quite abundant and apparently at their height. July 15, 1859

This cooler, still, cloudy weather after the rain is very autumnal and restorative to our spirits. July 15, 1854'

There is an inwardness even in the mosquitoes' hum, while I am picking blueberries in the dank wood July 15, 1854

Bobolinks are heard — their link, link — above and amid the tall rue which now whitens the meadows. July 15, 1856.

The robin sings still, but the goldfinch twitters over oftener, and I hear the link link of the bobolink, and the crickets creak more as in the fall. All these sounds dispose our minds to serenity. July 15, 1854

We seem to be passing, or to have passed, a dividing line between spring and autumn, and begin to descend the long slope toward winter. July 15, 1854

Cultivated grasses now clothe the earth with rich hues. Looking down on a field of red-top now in full bloom, at 2.30 P.M. in a blazing sun I am surprised to see a very distinct white vapor like a low cloud drifting along close over the moist coolness of that dense grass-field. Field after field, densely packed like the squares of a checker-board, all through and about the villages, paint the earth. July 15, 1860

The rich green of young grain now, of various shades; the flashing blades of corn; the yellowing tops of ripening grain; the dense uniform red of red-top; the purple of the fowl-meadow along the low river-banks; the very dark and shadowy green of herd's-grass as if clouds were always passing over it; the fresh light green where June-grass has been cut; the fresh dark green where clover has been cut; the hard, dark green of pastures; the cheerful yellowish green of the meadows where the sedges prevail, with darker patches and veins of grass in the higher and drier parts. July 15, 1860

Scare up a snipe by riverside, which goes off with a dry crack, and afterward two woodcocks in the shady alder marsh at Well Meadow, which go off with a whistling flight. July 15, 1857.

Checkerberry, a day or two. [American wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbent)] July 15, 1856

There are many butterflies, yellow and red, about the Asclepias incarnata now. July 15, 1854

The stems and leaves of various asters and golden-rods, which ere long will reign along the way, begin to be conspicuous. July 15, 1854

Many birds begin to fly in small flocks like grown-up broods. July 15, 1854

Green grapes and cranberries also remind me of the advancing season. July 15, 1854

My thoughts are driven inward, even as clouds and trees are reflected in the still, smooth water. July 15, 1854

July 15, 2017

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, July Moods

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Blueberry

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Raspberry

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Checkerberry

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Bobolink

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Goldfinch

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau: the Snipe

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The American Woodcock

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Yellow Butterflies

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Milkweed

*****

July 2, 1851 ("Some of the raspberries are ripe, the most innocent and simple of fruits”)

July 6, 1857 (“Rubus triflorus well ripe.”)

July 11, 1857 ("I see more berries than usual of the Rubus triflorus in the open meadow near the southeast corner of the Hubbard meadow blueberry swamp.. . .They are dark shining red and, when ripe, of a very agreeable flavor and somewhat of the raspberry's spirit.")

July 12, 1851 ("This afternoon I gathered ripe blackberries, and felt as if the autumn had commenced.")

July 14, 1854 ("The cooler and stiller day has a valuable effect on my spirits.")

July 16, 1852 ("This is a still thoughtful day, the air full of vapors which shade the earth, preparing rain for the morrow. The air is full of sweetness. The tree is full of poetry. ")

July 16, 1851 ("I see the yellow butterflies now gathered in fleets in the road, and on the flowers of the milkweed.")

July 19, 1851 ("Yesterday it was spring, and to-morrow it will be autumn. Where is the summer then?")

July 24, 1852 (“There is a short, fresh green on the shorn fields . . . the year has passed its culmination.”)

July 24, 1860 ("Many a field where the grass has been cut shows now a fresh and very lit-up light green as you look toward the sun.”)

July 28, 1854 (“Methinks the season culminated about the middle of this month, — that the year was of indefinite promise before, but that, after the first intense heats, we postponed the fulfillment of many of our hopes for this year, and, having as it were attained the ridge of the summer, commenced to descend the long slope toward winter, the afternoon and down-hill of the year.”)