Knee Deep in June
~ by Jeff Tryon
They say October is the best time to be in Brown County, but I tend to agree with that great Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley:“ Tell you what I like the best –’ Long about knee deep in June,‘ Bout the time the strawberries melts, On the vine some afternoon, Like to jes’ get out and rest, And not work at nothing else!” I drove past a strawberry field one evening and the air was just thick with the smell of fresh, ripe strawberries, acres and acres of them. I couldn’ t help but recall those lines from“ Knee Deep In June.” Everything just smells so good this time of year! There are so many different kinds of flowers blooming this time of year. The air is perfumed with blossoms. Sometimes you can smell the banks of rose bushes at the Brown County Public Library from across the parking lot. I was driving down the road the other night and I caught the scent of honeysuckle on the breeze. It’ s nice to drive down a quiet country road through the forest in the moonlight and smell the honeysuckle.
The first hay is in the barn( or rolled up into giant rolls in the fields) and the tomato plants are blooming. The beans are blossoming and that can only mean it is time for the Bluegrass festival. Soon, now, blackberries; and then – cobbler!
I like to look down into the deep forested ravines to see rays of sunlight dappling down to the forest floor, the little photo by Jeff Tryon
stream of a creek glittering down the valley.
The trees and all the greenery are especially beautiful now, still lush before the summer storms and withering heat thin them back.
I like summer thunderstorms, even when they scare me. They give me a kind of giddy thrill. Sometimes I laugh out loud. So much power, so much energy released in a single moment. The air is charged with electricity.
The rain washes everything clean and leaves a sweet scent in the air. Electrical storms ionize the air. Human beings naturally like that. It’ s why we’ re drawn to running water.
The TV weathermen, interrupting the program you’ re trying to watch, are very excited.“ Is it raining out there, Bob?”“ Yes, Bill, I’ m live on the scene and it is raining really hard. A couple of minutes ago, there was some lightning, followed by a big clap of thunder.”
I’ ve heard about people who didn’ t have enough sense to come in out of the rain, but not as a profession. I suppose it isn’ t all that different from that age-old Brown County custom of two old guys sitting out on the porch talking about the weather.
A few years back, an old friend of mine was visiting from California with his new wife and she had never seen lightning bugs. Apparently, they do not thrive West of the Great Divide. We were sitting out on the back deck and it started to get dark and the fireflies started to rise up and blink.
64 Our Brown County • May / June 2018