Step into Summer with sunshine on your face

Tomorrow is the first of July and Summer is here to stay. July takes its name from Julius Caesar who was born in this month. The Anglo-Saxons called July 'Mead- month' from the meadows being in bloom .Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599) wrote a verse dedicated to July which shows how English spelling has changed,

'

Then comes hot July, boyling like to fire,
That all his garments he had cast away,
Upon a Lyon raging yet with ire
He boldly rode, and made him to obaye,
Behinde his back a sithe, and by his side
Under his belt he wore a sickle circling wide.'

From this motto about bees it would seem that their activity is less in July, but there are swarms of them round the lavender plants and we are told that they are in danger and that we would be in great trouble without them. We need to protect bees.

'A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay,
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon
A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly.'

John Keats (1796 - 1821) didn't think we should go rushing about like bees. He loved walking around Hampstead Heath and Highgate and got a lot of inspiration for his poetry there. this is what he had to say.
Let us not therefore go hurrying about and collecting honey, bee-like, buzzing here and there impatiently from a knowledge of what is to be arrived at. But let us open out  leaves like a flower, and be passive and receptive: budding patiently under the eye of Apollo and taking hints from every noble insect that favours us with a visit.

I hope you find some inspiration here to start this great Summer month off with a spring in your step and sunshine in your heart.

Ducks like swimming pools in the Summer too