CORDELIA's GARDEN

 The poet Gladys Taber wrote: "June in New England ( well, she might as well have been talking about June here), is like a lover's dream made tangible. Colour and scent and sound; the hills indeed sing. Dawn comes so fresh and cool, and dusk flows like a still river into the deep sea of night."

                                

 Cordelia spent an entire afternoon soaking up that which is here. She spends quite a few afternoons here. Toddling around. It's peaceful.

 Sniffing at the compost seems to take up most of  her time.

 "There are the first roses too!" wrote Gladys Taber. Oh the first roses. And the lilacs. "A special delicacy, a purity. Their odour is even sweeter."

          
 "When I pick them, and pick them I must." Well, I tend to photograph them more. Then I rip apart some of the blooms for potpourri.

 And Cordelia keeps on sniffing. Sniffing. Sniffing the roses now that are starting to explode.

 Waiting on the steps. Waiting to greet. It's cooler here. In the shade.

               

 Watching the Campanula burst out of its pods.

       The Flutterbies   sniffing and tasting the verbeena.  Cordelia chases.
        
                      And in the greenhouse. More surprises.

  Sweet peas. Just starting . My favourite beyond all favourites. Yesterday I picked the first ones. Their scent heady. Dark. Sweet. Definitely the scent of summer. Cordelia likes to sniff these as well.

                

 And the Mountain rising vast and blue above it all.

 Cordelia takes a break in the cool of the porch. Sniffing at water bowls is an important task.

 "Noons are tranquil gold. " So writes Gladys Taber. So is the Rhodochiton. Getting thick and starting to droop. It will have all summer to droop.
                     
               Verbascum rises out of the soil. Starting to get tall. Above Cordelia. She is back by the compost, sitting on the toilet that I placed there. It is now covered with Lemon balm. She sits and sniffs at the lemon . At the compost.  Maybe it reminds her of "old deserted gardens".

 Van Gogh used to say "I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things." Well. It's good to love many things. Sniff. Sniff. Cordelia's got the right idea.
                      (white Campanula Takesana)
(Quotations from "June in New England" by Gladys Taber, author of Stillmeadow Books, and journalist for Ladies Home Journal 1948-1958)