June 12

The roads were damp this morning from an overnight shower, brought in from another tropical front out of the south. Daybreak saw high humidity from the outset, leaving the saturated ground and leaf cover heavy with moisture. It had a heavy feel that hinted at midsummer yet to arrive.

The moisture somehow brought out the odor of the wild roses, having come to bloom within the past few days, and in some places lining the roadside edges with their white blossoms. They resembled strawberry flowers, only larger and clustered together, and their fragrance just now is intoxicating.

South road has roses on both sides, particularly for the first few hundred yards as it leaves the Holden road, where there are no houses to interfere. There is just the tunneled canopy of green, maples and oaks, ash and hickory, and the roadside ditch is filled with wild rose, so much so that it is a contrast of perfume when traveling by.

The moisture has brought forth another seasonal migrant; the spotted red newts are evidently on the move. These delicate little creatures will be traveling to and from wetland locations, just now in the eft stage, which is distinguished by their almost luminescent orange body with tiny reddish spots. They are tiny things, no bigger than an inch or two, and they move with the speed and purpose akin to the sloth – slow and deliberate, placing tiny feet one after the other in slow progression.

They are easy to spot now, when contrasted against the dark wet pavement.