Magnificent sunshine

The buds are now open

Yes, we finally have some open blooms in the Cornwall Rose Garden. Not many, but all the bushes are beginning to show a little color in numerous buds. We have a full day of sunshine today, after having a rainstorm every other day, and today is no exception. Although it was sunny all day yesterday, today we will have sunshine until late this afternoon, and then the clouds will begin another onslaught of precipitation. This Thursday is beginning to look particularly bad, just in time for our usual hike. 

The good part is that our temperatures have been very mild, with the occasional day when we reach 70°F (today should be one of them) here in Bellingham. I am not complaining about the cool weather, it suits me. 

It is June, after all, and our normal "June Gloom" should be prevalent for most of the month. And I have learned that because of the cool weather and all the rain that became snow in the High Country, we might not actually be able to visit Artist Point this year. At least not before the fall season, unless we get a super heat wave (I am hoping we won't). Sigh. We will see how long it will be before we can get back to the mountains. 

However, it's simply gorgeous here right now, so I'll concentrate on that. Plus I watched a documentary yesterday marking 78 years since D-Day, when the brave soldiers from 13 different countries stormed five beaches in Normandy and turned the tide of the Second World War. They gave everything they had and realized that the only possible outcome must be victory.

There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. When you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you can look him straight in the eye and say, ‘Son, your granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a son-of-a-goddamned-bitch named Georgie Patton!’ — General George S. Patton

But so many did not come back. More than 100,000 Americans and countless others from the other countries stayed on those beaches. We owe them nothing more than, well, everything. I spent quite a bit of time wiping the tears from my eyes, as I recalled the awfulness of D-Day, and thinking about all the people in today's world who are still suffering and dying in wars of conquest. I sincerely hope that one day the human race will have learned to live in harmony, peace, and love with one another. I know it's possible.

:-}