June is a special month for me.

It is the beginning of summer where I live. Everything is green, flowers are blooming, and it seems to be a time when most people are smiling. Perhaps the warm weather and water sports bring out happiness in those who enjoy the sun.

Downhome on the farm, this time of year, we cleaned out the swimming pool and my brother Rex got the filter going and the chlorine in again after it had been shut down all winter. Much of our family's social life centered around that pool once the weather was warm. The water was always cold. 

Barry could spend hours there on weekends floating in his favorite pool chair. When he was a teenager, he worked as a lifeguard at the Rockmart, Georgia swimming pool every summer. He loved the water.

I was not much of a water bug and was afraid of water most of my life. 

I blame my brothers who teased me and liked to scare me when I was a little kid. They took me out in a boat on one of the farm ponds and when they rowed up to the bank to get out, instead of lifting me out, they left me in the boat and pushed it back into the pond. Of course, I was afraid they were going to leave me so I did what any kid would do -- I jumped out of the boat trying to reach land. I immediately sank like a rock in the deep murky water.

I am sure my brothers didn't expect that to happen. One of them jumped in and rescued me quickly, but that fear stayed with me most of my life. I never learned to swim very well. However, I learned to water ski with my brother, Rex, driving the boat. I wore a life jacket so was not scared of drowning.

We spent many hours at Lake Blackshear in south Georgia as guests of the Booth family. I have some great memories of those days. 

The month of June is special to me because my sister, June, was born on the 25th, in Pelham, Georgia and my brother, Ray, was born in Rubonia, Florida on June 27th two years later. Not a day passes that I don't think of them and how much I miss them. 

June and Ray, my sister and brother at the family Christmas Party 

This month is also special to me because Barry and I married on June 14. I tell my students to list the turning points in their lives. That day was a huge turning point in my life.  

Today in my world here in the mountains of western North Carolina, I cherish my memories as I work in my deck garden.

I enjoy all the plants in their pots, blooming and growing while I celebrate summer with little Lexie helping me keep the pesky squirrel from digging and uprooting my hosta. 

A pair of Eastern Bluebirds came to my door

A pair of Eastern bluebirds spent one day fluttering at my door and windows. They wanted to come inside. I have a bluebird box in the yard but think I need to clean it out from the last hatching. Maybe I should get another birdhouse for the pair that seems desperate for a place to nest right now. So many birds live around my home and I enjoy watching them.

With all the bad weather in parts of the US, I know many people are suffering from floods and tornadoes. I am afraid that climate change is wreaking havoc in places that used to be fairly safe. Stay safe and well until we meet again. 

Gardening above ground, bluebirds and poetry

My friend, Mary Mike, works in her yard all the time. She has the most energy of anyone her age that I know. I noticed recently that her bushes have become trees. Her trees have spread all over, and she has plans to take some of them down. I had two trees cut this spring. Both were dead. I didn't even realize it. I need others trimmed or cut down, but decided to wait until winter when the leaves are gone.

I once could see Lake Chatuge from my upper deck. Now trees have hidden my view. I am a tree lover. Cutting down a tree hurts me, makes me sad, but I am being smothered by these beautiful giants. 

My gardening is all done on my upper deck these days. This year I was late buying my favorite annuals, but I planted marigold seeds given to me last year and I planted Jalapeno pepper seeds.  I also planted a potato and the plant has done well.

First pepper on my plant. I chopped it and added it to spaghetti last night. 

                      Background is my drive down below and the woods to the east of my house. 

I tried to grow tomatoes on my deck, but I get very little sunshine and my brother, Rex, who was quite a gardener, said the shade was my problem. Lucky for me, the peppers don't seem to mind.

In the twenty-five years since we bought this house, the dogwood trees, the oaks and pines have grown so large around the property that I only get a small patch of midday sunshine. My Azaleas that were beautiful a few years ago are pitiful now. Only one plant blooms and seems to thrive. My Knock Out roses are not doing well although we have had lots of rain. 

My roses should look like this.

My yard is on a slope and I can't walk there safely now. Down in south Georgia, when I was younger, I grew the most beautiful Azaleas. I had a green thumb, but I seem to have lost it somewhere.

Behind Kodi are my Azaleas in my yard in south Georgia

I, like many others these days, have problems keeping my spirits up, staying positive. My little deck garden helps. I have hummingbird feeders there and I hang suet feeders near a window where I can watch the birds feed.

Eastern bluebirds 

I have a bluebird box in my yard, and in the spring, they usually produce two hatchings. My problem is that I have to ask someone to clean out the old nests or they won't lay eggs in the box. It is not easy to find someone when I need them.

This poem about bluebirds is by Mary Oliver, one of the most loved poets in recent years. 

WHAT GORGEOUS THING

I do not know what gorgeous thing

the bluebird keeps saying,

his voice easing out of his throat,

beak, body into the pink air

of early morning. I like it

whatever it is. Sometimes

it seems the only thing in the world

that is without dark thoughts.

Sometimes it seems the only thing

in the world that is without

questions that can't and probably

never will be answered, the

only thing that is entirely content

with the pink, then clear white 

morning and, gratefully, says so.

  --- Mary Oliver