I blinked and June was over. I wish I could do the same for July. July is the roughest month (for me) of summer. I am always happy to see the back end of it. I should not complain as the heat, the real hot stuff, did not arrive until just this past weekend, though it seemed to make up for the lack of it last month. So now I am hurrying to get in my June reading about Stillmeadow.
The chapters in Stillmeadow Calendar inevitably begin the same way with an eye on the weather and what nature is offering the inhabitants of Stillmeadow. She reflects on the state of the garden and the plants and flowers that are making an appearance. Why did it surprise me that even in the mid-60s when this was published that even then they were dealing with Japanese beetles. I thought this was a relatively new invasion, but I was wrong.
"I remember the days before the Japanese beetle when the Quiet Garden at Stillmeadow glowed with color. Now it takes hard work to preserve the specimen blooms. There are a good many remedies for the beetle invasion. But it takes a concerted effort on the part of a whole state to conquer any pest."
She does not give suggestions unfortunately, though she is hesitant to approve the use of insecticides and laments the wholesale use of pest killers for the fallout and all the nature that is destroyed by its use.
Although I do love the bits about her garden and what is in bloom, it is always the meandering bits about family and community and just whatever odds and ends she is dealing with or reflecting on at the moment. I had a chuckle over this and actually think I do quite agree with her (at least I would not be one to walk about in my swimsuit outside of the beach).
"I cannot explain why summer people seem to think it is a fine idea to go shopping in bikinis. And most of them are barefoot. Even men appear in bathing trunks and nothing else. I just have a feeling that in their own home towns they do not shop without having some clothes on. I don't like it at all, for I think it shows a lack of respect for the inhabitants of the places they visit. As far as I am concerned, nudes belong in oil paintings and not by the roadside."
However, opinionated she may be about the wearing of bathing suits, she seems very polite nonetheless. She goes on to describe one young lady in particular who she spotted in a drugstore wearing a bikini with gold spangles, and toenails lacquered in gold to match. She had a cigarette in a gold holder, too, but it was the gold earrings that just seemed too much, yet all it elicited from Gladys was an "Oh!" in a too loud voice!
She digresses into the area of antiques (having to fix a collapsing antique bed), and I liked this image she offered.
"My so-called double bed would not comfortably accommodate two people, although it does very well for an Irish setter and a cocker or so. Plus a stack of books for my night reading, and a bevy of pillows. And, well, it is lovely to look at when the June moonlight falls on the pineapple posts."
It may be June in Stillmeadow, but this is something that can be taken through the rest of the summer, too. Something to ponder!
"I think we take too much for granted, and no doubt this helps us to get our work done, whatever it may be; but I believe an hour looking at a Silver Moon rambler is a well-spent and exciting hour. It is important to sit in the leafy shade, and think long, slow thoughts about unanswerable questions, and find serenity. Like the opening bud on a rosebush, a new response to life unfolds."