7/27/11 SUMMER IS HALF OVER, AND "IT AIN'T EVER OVER"

DARK MORNING

GOLDENROD IN BLOOM

FLOWER HEAD

LUPINE SEED PODS

...SEEDS

Wednesday, 8:00 AM.  59 degrees, wind W, calm.  The sky is overcast with rainclouds but the sun is peeking through.  We received about .3’” of rain last night and the barometer predicts more.
    The goldenrod is just beginning to bloom, the one pictured is probably Canada goldenrod, Solidago canadensis, in the Composite family.  That means the summer is almost half over. There are so many species of goldenrod, and so much interbreeding that only experts in the genus can usually offer little more than generalizations and good guesses.
    The  seed pods of the lupines, Lupinus perennis (in the pea family, the Leguminosae) are evident now, ready to open, and the seeds inside are ripe.  The pods and seeds are not very robust this year, I think hot, dry weather occurred at the wrong time in their maturation process.
    A political comment: our neighboring city of Ashland has had its share of political infighting of late, and a petition to recall the Mayor has been mounted by his opposition after only a very short time in office.  On the national, state and local scene it is now the custom to deny the fact that an elected official or a political party has actually won an election, and too many are denied the right and opportunity to actually govern. There used to be something called “the loyal opposition.”  Today it is “the endless opposition,” and the campaign goes on ad nauseum.  Much of what passses for politics these days is nothing but cleverly manipulated anarchy.  And, as every school child knows, anarchy being intolerable to civil society, some form of dictatorship ( i.e., fascism, communism, the criminal mob) is bound to follow.  In baseball, “it ain’t over ‘till it's over.”  In todays politics, “it ain’t ever over.”