7 June …
Rain a few nights last week. But on thursday, when I went out to collect eggs, the sky was nearly clear with a waxing Moon.
With the change in climate and the increased number of residences in this area, evenings are getting interesting in other ways as well. On Saturday last there was a volley of semi-automatic gunfire to the northeast. In the past there has always been occasional rifle fire. After all, we lived in a “rural” area and people hunt for food.
Now things have changed.
~~~
Last week there were wild lilacs in full bloom as we went down the canyon. The red bud and dogwood are past bloom. But the shades of green were eye-blowing … too numerous to calculate.
It made the trip a joy, 
and the lilac at home is now past full.
The river of flowers out in the meadow is changing colour from the deep pink of the shooting stars to the white of wild garlic and yellow of monkey flowers.
~~~
Some time ago, knowing my fascination with pictures of women reading (probably because I am a woman who reads), my younger son gave me a book …
He mentioned the gift a few weeks ago when he had to post the blog for me.
I was able to really read it while I was restricted to lying on my back on the sofa.
It was an interesting book in several ways.
A picture of the tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine was chronologically the earliest…
and of Marilyn reading “Ulysses” the latest.
That time spread was an interesting item.
Another was divisions the author made between readers … “Where the World Lives”, “Intimate Moments”, “Abodes of Pleasure”, “Hours of Delight”, “The Search for Oneself”, and “Little Escapes”. I think that tells us more about the author (a man) than about the reading women.
The book began examination of the pictures with information about the artists or sculptors and the worlds in which they lived and worked. However, a little more than half way through the collection, the tone changed to one of praise or criticism based on what the author “saw” in the picture. In several cases, I “saw” something entirely different and so my evaluation was different.
The book was well worth the reading time. I met some new artists, found new paintings by artists I know, learned about the history of reading, and met some interesting women with whom I think I could have enjoyed conversations … such as the woman on the cover. Her name was Elena Vecchi. She probably lived in Paris in the last decade of the 19th century. Her picture is titled “Dreams 1896”.
I think any woman who reads and enjoys art will find something to learn and something to like in the collection.
Thank you, Mark.
And speaking of reading women … 
here is the woman for June …
Girl Reading, painted by Edmund Charles Tarbell,1909.
~~~
A bit ago I commented on how noisy the mornings are becoming what with the creeks on either side, the breeze in the tree tops, the calls of the morning birds, the geese overhead, the sand cranes in the meadow, and the sounds from the chicken house.
This morning it was equally noisy but with the addition of a train to the east passing through. The tracks are a good eight or ten miles away. We can clearly hear the horns and often we hear even the sound of the wheels on the tracks, the swaying of the cars, and the brakes.
I love trains.
~~~
To end this week, a picture of AC with me in the evening …
and a share, the closing from a favorite tv show …
We cannot stand still because the world keeps turning. Every year gives way to the next. Stories from the past must be folded and tucked away, cherished and never quite forgotten.
So … ’til next week …