The afternoon temperatures are closing in on the 90’s most days here for the last week. A cool afternoon is one that just tops 80. At least the nights are cool…And that means the mornings are really nice. Only in the late afternoon when the sun moves into that area of the sky that pre-Ike we never saw does the temperature in the house rise enough to force the AC on.

Starting last week though, another aspect of late spring and early summer came to the fore. The honeysuckle started it with the barely sweet scent wafting around on the breeze. Then, almost immediately, the Texas privet went into full scale sensory overload…If you want to have your brain kick you back 45 years into your past, walk around with the smell of privet completely overwhelming every other smell in your world…

Last week, when the bushes began to burst forth, I kept having flashbacks to those summers as a preteen growing up in a small town in the south. I would see mayo jars, honeybees, holes in lids…The neighborhood kids all gathered around the privet bush next door catching bees. Catch and release…

Dewberries have been turning black too. So walking with grandson #2 tends to be a sweet affair…the taste of the berries, the smell of the honeysuckle mixing with the privet.

I so love this time of year.