The shore of the river with native plants.

Wildflowers with trees reflected.

As the summer starts to approach its end, it’s hard to think we are already speeding towards fall so quickly. Already, the hostas are starting to yellow & the pods are beginning to dry out. Withering & dessicating.

Don’t get me wrong, fall remains my favorite season, & I’m very much looking forward to sweater weather, with windy days of fluttering, multicolored leaves, swirling in clusters. Spiced apple & pumpkin, harvest colors, scarecrows & witches, cider, jams, & pies. All wonderful things to enjoy.

Yet, still, there’s symbolism in the dying strains of summer. Strange, how the slow decline of the vegetation can reveal such spectacular color. As if death brings out so much hidden beauty.

Love the texture of the rust & ivory.

Stunning ivory fringe.

As I walked by the river in the heart of Goffstown, a small town in New Hampshire, so many blooms offer up their sparks of life. If one stops to take time to soak in all of the natural beauty, there’s the profound reward of inner calm, a sense of peace flows through you, like the water’s nearby current.

The flowers continue to attract pollinators who bring buzzing & fluttering, animation. Activity. Movement. Without these insects & birds, we, mammalian life, wouldn’t even exist. We must cherish these pollinators.

A Monarch butterfly.

Stop & stay a while, with bench or Boulder nearby.

When life presses down with force on an introvert like me, I find there’s a need to hunker down & find a place of quiet solace. That place can be external in a physical location, but it can also manifest in an internal, metaphysical space.

Or, better yet, an intersection of the two. That’s the best, the ideal.

Words of hope, emblazoned on a garden sign.

Interesting spherical shapes in the vegetation emerge.

Even though summer weather has been unseasonably hot in New England this year, I’m still a very big fan of four seasons. The high temperatures & humidity made this summer particularly uncomfortable. I must confess the heat has encouraged me to appreciate the winter all the more.

The benefits of summer remain the glorious flowers & activity of animals & insects who visit the gardens & fields. Life hard won after months of sterile cold, snow, & ice.

Magenta-hued ironweed.

Close-up of ironweed bloom.

When you sit on a rock or bench or wend your way through a garden, no matter how small the space outside your lungs begin to expand. You register a bigger world outside of yourself, pushing outside of the artificial boundaries we imagine fixed & formidable.

Charming fleabane, like miniature daisies.

Height & structure.

Writing this blog has provided me with an excuse to make that time. Taking pictures coaxes me closer to the vegetation or objects studied, giving me better perspective, more time to examine detail. I’m grateful for that time, feeling justified in taking it.

So, thank you, dear readers & fellow introverts for sharing this time with me. Thank you for sharing the positivity of Nature’s gifts during summer’s last throes.

Pretty, lacy pops of flowers.

Little honeybee hard at work.