Dear Friends,
Happy summer to you! We have been busy working in the garden, and keeping up with all the crazy places that the chickens are trying to make into nests!
Fairy houses were made for Midsummer's Day. They were made festive with various flower petals and leaves.
This last picture is a swing made for the fairies' benefit. I'm sure they enjoyed it!
We hope that you are having a lovely summer, and we pray for those of you who are suffering from extreme temperatures. We know it must be hard!
Love,
Marqueta
**********************************
To Summer
O Thou who passest thro’ our vallies in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched’st here thy golden tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy, thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.
Beneath our thickest shades we oft have heard
Thy voice, when noon upon his fervid car
Rode o’er the deep of heaven; beside our springs
Sit down, and in our mossy vallies, on
Some bank beside a river clear, throw thy
Silk draperies off, and rush into the stream:
Our vallies love the Summer in his pride.
Our bards are fam’d who strike the silver wire:
Our youth are bolder than the southern swains:
Our maidens fairer in the sprightly dance:
We lack not songs, nor instruments of joy,
Nor echoes sweet, nor waters clear as heaven,
Nor laurel wreaths against the sultry heat.