A part of the sun

(Last night’s sunset.)

I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me.  That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea.  There is not any part of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surfaces of the water.

~ D. H. Lawrence

(First sunflower of the season.)

Our sunflowers are late this year.  Later than those around us who planted early and well.  We planted early — and perhaps well — but the rabbits ate the baby plants.  The slugs ate the second planting.  M sprayed the third planting to discourage both slugs and rabbits.

I don’t understand the rabbits.  We have fields of flowers and grasses and seeds that they could be munching on.  Yet they insist on eating the flowers in the gardens.  The zinnias, hydrangeas, petunias, and sunflowers all seem to be tastier morsels to the ravenous bunnies.  There is a rabbit hanging out in the vegetable garden, too.  We’ll have to do something about that eventually.  Fix the fence, maybe.  Scaring it off doesn’t appear to be a permanent solution.

The sunflowers seem brighter to me this year.  This one is shedding a few raindrop tears but it is mostly a happy fellow.  The honey bees are busy buzzing and pollinating and keeping the flower company.  If you’re looking for the green in this Green themed post, it’s in the sunflower.  And surrounding it in some pics.

(Sunflower, honey bees, and sun flare.  Playing with Photoshop version.)

Having spent a decade in northeast Ohio, I have an appreciation for and understanding of sun worship.  It feels natural to want to glory in the light of the sun when it shows up, even in the heat of the summer months.

(SOC version.)

Our housesitter will be arriving later today to get settled in.  M and I leave bright and early tomorrow morning for a two week Rocky Mountain adventure.  I am really looking forward to it.  We will not only get to see and spend time with M the Younger and his lovely wife, we will also be sharing part of our vacation with M’s sister.  It will be fun to show her some of the places we discovered last year.

(My feet at sunset.)

I have new hiking boots this year.  Some of you may remember that I had trouble finding new boots last year.  I ended up using my old hiking shoes which worked out well enough.  I’ve been wearing the new boots around the house and property, making sure I won’t have any problems with them.  They are comfy although I’m still getting used to having all that ankle support.  Izzy and Bella (the cats) do not appreciate the noise from the new boots.  It’s hard not to stomp around in them.

(Going for a swim at sunset.)

I think I’m pretty much ready to go.  I’ve been busy this week putting the house in order.  M has been outside mowing and battening down the hatches in case of storms.  Keep your fingers crossed in hopes there are no major power outages while we are away.

We should have internet access for most of the trip.  We’ll be spending time in Boulder, Colorado to start, as we did last year, to help us acclimate to the higher altitude.  Then it’s off to the mountains for a while and then back to Boulder again before coming home.  I’ll check in when I can and I’ve scheduled some posts to go up when I can’t.  Hopefully that will keep me covered for this month’s NaBloPoMo.

That’s about it from the Bogs for now.  I have to go finish some last minute laundry and packing.  We’ll be making an early night of it since we have to be up at 3:00am to get ready to go to the airport.

(This morning’s view of the pond.)