Summer Yellows

Those of us who have more yesterdays than tomorrows usually don’t like to see time pass swiftly, but I’m glad to see this summer of record-setting heat and little rain come to an end. Come on fall!

Although all of our friends know that I dislike summer with its heat and humidity – and much prefer the cold and snow of winter – summer is not without its pleasures. One of summer’s most enjoyable aspects are the various yellows that abound.

It seems that as summer progresses the yellows get brighter and more common, so that now at the end of summer the season is saying “Good-bye” in a riot of yellow –

Blue-stemmed Goldenrod

Bur-marigold

Gray-headed Coneflower

Green-headed Coneflower

Wingstem

Yellow Jewelweed

Thin-leaved Sunflower

Sneezeweed

Not only summer flowers are yellow, various animals also display the color of sunshine: a banded garden spider -

And some timber rattlesnakes –

In this area the most abundant of summer’s yellow fauna are the tiger swallowtail butterflies –

Even late summer’s fungi show yellows –

Fly Aminita

Unidentified

Unidentified

Yellow Staghorn Fungus

Although I enjoy the cooler seasons much more, summer isn’t without its pleasures: lemon aide, long days, ripening crops in the fields and orchards, canoeing, and the yellows of summer.

Good-bye summer, see you next year.