Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown

I think I have found the supreme reason for summer. It lies in the flowers... whose only true and  passionate love is the summer heat.

They teach me to feel summer in a different way. To embrace its intensity and find what the heat and I can accomplish together.

So I'm allowing my mind, and the camera, to capture all the reasons that I must accept this season of fire and passion... and its amazing plant energy.
William Carlos Williams said "In summer, the song sings itself.", so I listen...
A hummingbird flies above me as if to ask if I have anything to offer... and then moves to the autumn sage which gives this small bird what it desires.

The butterfly bush attacks my senses with a heady fragrance and bees buzz around me as they check the clusters of each lavender wands.

This is Buddleja Davidii, the summer lilac...the butterfly bush. The hummingbirds and the "bumbles" find this bush irresistible, but no butterflies do I see.

Even Carl is at one with his summer environment. The "little man" dog who always needs control of everything is in total bliss. I listen to his panting... which helps him deal with the hot air. I watch him as he listens, anticipates, watches and feels the summer until it becomes his whole doggie being.
 "The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses."~Hanna Rion~.
He is soaking up the resources of summer as if he were praying. He is in total acceptance of what IS.
I need to practice this technique.

I think that the Hollyhock understands this. She is jubilant in her bright pink tutu. Like a young child dressed for a dance recital, she is at her very best in this heat. She sparkles in her self esteem.

Why haven't I seen this before. These flowers are in their element. THEY ARE SUMMER.

As I walk down to the garden I hear a scream, an animal scream , and the birds fly up all in one movement. Carl returns to reality and barks with Cutter at the screeching sound that cuts into the summer silence. What could this be? A bird? An animal? There is no answer. Just silence after the scream.
"Oh, for the time when I shall sleep without identity."
~Emily Bronte~
 I want to understand what happen. I guess it's not mine to know. It will remain an unidentified death.
 The birds are talking about it. Slowly they start their conversations.
 The deer are silent. Even the air is still.
Something left this world.
 I hope it was a death with purpose.

 
I walk on down to the garden.
First checking the dirt, then the leaves of the vegetables.  Do they need water? No.
Do they need to be protected from the afternoon heat. Probably not. It will not be over 90 degrees today.
They will be OK for one more day.
The pumpkins are taking over the south end of the garden. Soon Brownie, our goat, will be able to reach the leaves through the fence.

We will have a bumper crop of pumpkins this year. Only in this heat do they grow inches each day. Only in this heat do they flower and grow into a mass of yellow orbs that means pie and jack-o-lanterns for Fall.
Without Summer, Halloween and Thanksgiving would loose their color and taste... and creepy cutout faces.
SUMMER HAS TO BE.

The tomatoes must ripen...

There are sun worshipers.  I understand this.
 "Plants cry their gratitude for the sun in green joy."~Terri Guillemets~

The little Italian heirloom, pear tomatoes need heat too.

They need to grow and become what they were created for... Tomato sauce.

It's all there before my eyes. I need summer. I will suffer the heat because others need it. A simple revelation.
I didn't have to see a therapist to understand this. I simply put my dislike on hold, listened to my garden and understood.
We have to accept the possibility of fire, rattlesnakes,  hearing screams of death from the wilderness around us and the limitation of our water supply. I must accept this because I know that if I choose to live somewhere else and I leave this mountain place, my life will be the less for it.  Summer is what it is... a season of knowing danger, being aware of my fears and listening to the conversations of the plants and flowers. 
I'm trying to understand and embrace Summer.
I know that this is about attitude, a new point of view, and acceptance.
What does Summer mean to you?

“The sun shines not on us but in us.” ~John Muir~