In Summer Green

Image: Photographer unknown.

See also the previous posts:
• Summer Hare
• Bel Homme XVIII

Morning Light

Image: Zi Qiu Xie.

A Summer Blessing

Blessed are you, summer
season of long days and short nights,
you pour forth light from your golden orb,
energizing the earth and calling forth growth.

Blessed are you, summer,
with your generous gift of heat.
Your warm breath animates creation,
encouraging all growing things to stretch toward the sun.

Blessed are you, summer,
you call us into playfulness,
encouraging us to pause from work.
You renew our spirits.

Blessed are you, gracious season of summer,
you surprise us with a variety of gifts from the earth.
We, too, gaze into the earth ourselves,
beholding gifts waiting to be honored.

Blessed are you, nurturing season of summer,
your fruits and vegetables appear on our tables,
changing them into altars.
Tasting of your life, we are made strong.

Blessed are you, summer,
host of a star that shines with passion.
Sun-soaked, we reach for your energy
that drives us upward and onward.

Blessed are you, sacrament of summer,
nature's green season, sweet echo of spring.
You speak to us in living color as you renew the earth
with symbols of life for our bodies and souls.

Blessed are you, summer,
season of roots that reach for water.
Even through the cracks in the sidewalk
the song of your seed can be heard.

Blessed are you, summer,
season rooted in reality.
Even as the perspiration collects on our brow,
we experience your earthy joy.

Blessed are you, summer,
with your firefly evenings
you minister to the child in us.
You feed our hunger for beauty.

– Joyce Rupp
Excerpted from The Circle of Life:
The Heart's Journey Through the Seasons

Related Off-site Links:
Hello, Summer 2019! Today's Solstice Marks Season's Beginning – Joe Rao (Space, June 21, 2019).
Today's Summer Solstice Marks the Longest Day of the Year – Here's Everything You Need to Know – Madison Roberts (People, June 21, 2019).
Summer Solstice 2019: How the Longest Day Is Celebrated Around the World – David Hughes (I News, June 21, 2019).
Ancient Traditions to Help You Celebrate Summer Solstice 2019 – Gaia (June 21, 2019).
A Summer Solstice Reflection – The Wild Reed (June 21, 2019).

See also the previous posts:
• Welcoming the Summer Solstice
• Hare in Summer Field
• Summer Hare
• Summer Boy

Image: Photographer unknown.

All the Time

It happens all the time in heaven,
And some day

It will begin to happen
Again on earth –

That men and women who are married,
And men and men who are
Lovers,

And women and women
Who give each other
Light,

Often will get down on their knees

And while so tenderly
Holding their lover’s hand,

With tears in their eyes,
Will sincerely speak, saying,

“My dear, How can I be more loving to you;

How can I be more
Kind?”

– Hafez

Image: Saaxiib Qurux Badan (“Beautiful Friend”) by The Leveret.

Hare and Meadow Flowers

Image: Photographer unknown.

See also the previous posts:
• Meadow Hare
• Meadow Hare II
• In Meadow Flowers
• Among Spring Blooms
• "I Have Become Your Brother . . . One of Your Kin"

Tan Lines

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Portrait

See also the previous posts:
• Portrait I | II | III | IV

Jason

Jason Derulo (born Jason Joel Desrouleaux on September 21, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Since the start of his solo recording career in 2009, Derulo has sold over 30 million singles and achieved eleven Platinum singles, including "Wiggle," "Talk Dirty," "In My Head," and "Whatcha Say."

Derulo's music is generally pop, but also incorporates R&B and hip-hop influences. He has named Michael Jackson as his musical inspiration, stating that Jackson "is the reason I am who I am today. When I was 4 years old, I saw him for the first time. I saw how he moved the crowd and how people were just so touched."

Billboard's Jason Lipshutz speaks on Derulo's overall music and sound stating he operates "in two musical modes," describing one as "positive PG-romance dance-pop personality," and the other as a "bumping, faux-crass club thumpers." Lipshutz says that "Derulo has been tweaking [these] two modes just enough [so as] to offset each other [and ensure] that audiences never grow sick of either style."

– Source

See also the previous posts: Jamie | Lyriq | Philip | Don | LeBron | Jayjay | Donald | Geremy | Jerome | Solomon | Colin | Luis | Nyle | Philip | Charlie | Sukdeep | Rafael | Mon Bel Ami

Images: Photographers unknown.

Ornamental Hares

Image: The Leveret.

Bel Homme

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.