June 1

It was hot enough today to go barefoot just about everywhere, and our soles having been so long shod for the last several months felt strangely liberated in the dewy grass and hot roadbed.

Our feet are as tender as this meteorological summer which is casting off the cloak of a growing spring and settling into the business of production. Walking around was a tentative affair today, and more than a few times did I wince at some stick in the yard or hot spot of the pavement, gingerly repositioning my feet that need more time to adjust.

As children, my sister and I would arrive to the woods of northern Michigan after school let out, and we would forego shoes from the outset, though gingerly stepping on pine needle bedded pathways laden with acorns and leaves, roots and shells – paths that were our childhood highways from the cottage to our adventures near the shore or in the woods. We were tenderfeet in many ways those early June days of our childhood, carefree and full of promise much in the way this month begins.

Our feet would toughen, and the ginger steps and wincing movements became less and less as we accustomed to living in summer.

Notes:

Chickweed blooming in yard.

Wild columbine blooming.