Monday, 8:00 AM. The temperature is 53 degrees, the wind SW, calm. The channel is calm, and fog is lifting from the channel and the Island, and the barometer predicts sunny weather.Andy and Judy came back yesterday after two weeks in Cedarburg, and had dinner with us. They both remarked that this year’s weather, cool and moist up here, hot and humid further south, is what they remembered it to be thirty and forty years ago. It is a good reminder that weather is cyclical over decades and even hundreds and thousands of years, dependent upon sun activity, volcanic action, ocean currents, variations in the earths orbit and other complicating factors; as the old saying goes, “whether it’s cold or whether it’s hot, we’ll have weather, whether or not.”
The strawberries have been excellent this year, and the raspberry crop, just starting now, looks heavy. The blueberries will soon follow, and in about three weeks the blackberries. We are going blueberry picking with Andy and Judy in the Moqua Pine Barrens Tuesday afternoon. They have a well-kept “secret” spot they have been going to for many years (Judy's wild blueberry pies are a culinary treasure) . Andy has a pocketful of M180 firecrackers he says will keep the bears at bay if necessary; I’m not sure that is a good idea.
The common Old World mullein, Verbascum thapsus, is a ubiquitous field weed almost everywhere. It is a pretty thing and very strong as a vertical element in the landscape, the one pictured being almost six feet tall. The birds love the seeds and spread them everywhere. They can be a troublesome weed, but I like to keep a few around. The fuzzy leaves, applied as a wrap to a festering sore, are a wonderfully healing poultice.
Lots of yard and garden work to do today.
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