Summer perks

Summer is not my favorite time of the year but it does have some perks. Since I got home from the beach, each morning, I've been able to pick as many blueberries as I can eat. There isn't anything like food straight from the plant to a quick rinse and into the mouth. I seem to have reached an understanding with the birds. They get the top berries which I would need a ladder for and I get the rest. It's ironic that the main time I had trouble with the birds cleaning out my berries was when I actively tried to discourage them. I remember years when I used nets but increasingly I'm more than happy to share as long as they don't clean me out. I used to have 3 blueberry bushes but I can't complain because the remaining bush is big enough to provide berries for me and the birds, with extras if I get the energy to pick them to give to friends. I usually give away at least a few quarts and unless the heat and drought take a bigger toll than they have so far, this year shouldn't be an exception. I'm looking forward to black raspberries a little later on. I have a ton of them. They are all volunteers and in spite of the fact that they are growing in some rather inconvenient places, I enjoyed the ones so much last year that I decided not to pull any volunteers up for at least another season. I may have to cut back one because it's perilously close to my face when I go through the entrance from the garden to the deck but other than that I'll probably let them be until after I get this year's crop. I'm increasingly liking my volunteers more than any of my planned plants. I have to start making decisions about the volunteer pecan trees. My one big pecan tree provides nice shade for my deck swing and is approaching the height of my mature oak trees. It was an easy decision to pull up a volunteer pecan in front of my rose bed but other spots are less clear. Do I want more summer shade or to keep the sunny spot for the flowers. Decisions, decisions but good, fun ones. One thing that I've noticed is flowers that go wild in the spring before the deciduous trees leaf out, often seem to keep plugging along once they get less sun when the trees leaf out. I've even found that to be true with lettuce and other edible plants. Makes sense to me. We can all use some shade in the summer, plant and animal alike. One of my favorite things to do is listen to the birds chirping deep in the bushes hidden from view. I'm starting to think I've finally arrived at what I'm going to be when I grow up. I struggled with that well into my 40s. I don't think I'm going to be anything but me. I'm lucky to have a job which pays the bills for the most part and an ever changing view when I glance out of my home office window (otherwise known as my den, studio, or various reincarnations as living space through the years). I have good health insurance and when I take a break I can go into my garden and pick a bunch of flowers. Nothing much earth shaking going on in my life and that's okay by me. By the same token I'm not done yet. There is always the possibility of change, good and bad, as long as we are alive. I think it's at least remotely possible I'll wake up in 20 years and laugh at how settled I was when I finished up my 49th year. I certainly don't take any given day for granted any more which is good and bad. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone blissful ignorance may be under rated.