May was a merry month. Out of a final April snowstorm new joys and beauty began to emerge.
Now as June begins, we see the indefatigable courage of plants, bugs and birds to use every moment to enjoy this reborn warmth of a new summer.
The exuberance of roadside flowers, tulips, dahlias and apple blossoms signal what is to come.
Nature does not lie. It’s beautiful and it is present. All should take a lesson from this and rejoice in being awake and aware of what lies ahead. There is plenty of darkness to go around. But even the night is filled with a thousand suns in far off places. Curtains of light blossom in that seemingly dark sky and dawn itself comes with a long, slow awakening.
Here in The County we benefit from long, far-away vistas of fields going from brown to green, and from blooms coming just at the moment when a bit of joy is needed. Red-tailed hawks, crows, ravens, ducks and geese all show off their own precious babies.
Nature does not lie. It is a joy to behold.
Heavy is the weight that falls on our shoulders to keep that forward look in front of us. Our blue skies carry the eyes into far-off lands of unknown adventure. The job remains to ask our leaders, “How have you made this world better?”
Too often the current crop seems to have nothing left except brown, dying blossoms. The joyful blooms of summers long ago are now memories. Today, and into the future, we must encourage new growth. Last year’s crop of spuds has been baked, boiled, fried and consumed.
If nature shows us courage, our duty lies in choosing courage to turn into the sun and face the winds that blow against us . We do not know our future. But with courage and pluck we will gain a foothold and step boldly into skies and fields unknown.
It will be a glorious June.
Orpheus Allison is a photojournalist living in The County who graduated from UMPI and earned a master of liberal arts degree from the University of North Carolina. He began his journalism career at WAGM television, later working in many different areas of the US. After 20 years of television he changed careers and taught in China and Korea.
