Summer in technicolor

by June

Poppy Lauren's Grape in the back-porch planter

All winter, I dream about poppies. They are the color of summer beginning. So summer is really just beginning here on the four green acres in often-cloudy Maine. We're still sleeping under our down comforters (really), and though the girls have sustained longer swims in the lake, I have only managed a quick dip. The river has been roaring and frothing all season, which at least makes for pleasant music to fall asleep by, even if it does not make for pleasant floating. We have yet to turn on a fan.

No eggplants yet, only the first blooms. No tomatoes but green beads growing bigger every day. Peas fading to wilt. Even the potatoes are grudging this year.

But the poppies have brought an essential jolt of summer.

A Shirley in her glory

Poppy Imperial Pink up close and...

...from a distance.

These amazed me when they grew as tall as the girls.

Now they look me in the eye.