Only a Day

I've used my six years of blogging to track when I hear the first crickets chirping each year.

The chirp of the crickets is the first sign of fall coming, and it always makes me a little sad.

This year, I heard crickets, for the first time, on July 28.  Here are some cricket milestones:

July 29, 2009
July 25, 2012 (more or less)
August 3, 2014

Along with the crickets, nature keeps marching on its path toward fall.   I am enjoying my late lilies.  This one is a new one for me - I bought it last year, and as usual, its name is lost to the midsts of my mind.  I thought I had it written down somewhere.

More lilies in my backyard.

Blackberry lilies, small but a favorite of mine.  I love their flowers, I love what happens to the flowers after they bloom (see the twisted things on the right upper of the photo) and I love the seed pods after they open - they look exactly like - yes, blackberries.

It's less hot out on this last day of July than it was earlier in the week, but the cold winds of fall are only a couple of calendar pages away.  I am not complaining.

I am trying to enjoy every minute, trying to be in the moment, even as my long distance caregiving schedule the last few weeks wears on me.  Just as a daylily flower and a blackberry lily flower last only a day, our lives are short.