We've evolved toward absolutely perfect summer days. Not too hot and humid, bright and breezy. What more could anyone ask for? Particularly given the fact that intermittent rain events keep everything from drying out. The ongoing, episodic rain in fact has given a real spurt to everything green, from the garden to the forested ravine.

Our ravine ramble yesterday wasn't entirely devoid of mosquito pests since the breeze, though credible enough, wasn't like the high winds of the day before, keeping mosquitoes at bay. And there they were, delighted to take advantage of our exposed flesh, from the back of our necks to our wrists.

We're still seeing Mourning Cloaks floating about, though they're most often seen in early spring, the first of the butterflies to make their presence known, and delighting us no end. Nuthatches, chickadees, robins, cardinals, song sparrows, crows and the occasional flycatcher zip about in the woods, entertaining us with their melodic presence.

Jack and Jill are familiar now with the trails and they're eager enough to be out there in the woods, finding new sources of interest and amusement, not to speak of whatever they can ingest, on a daily basis. Immature, tiny apples dropping from the trees and turning slightly brown as they begin to decompose have become an especial treat.

Our eyes are treated to the presence now of purple cowvetch and clover in bloom, golden buttercups, dazzling-white daisies, delicate pink fleabane and orange hawkweed. And the berries of the baneberry plants have now turned their eye-catching flaming red.

As a result of the rain we also come across interesting fungi formations. And that's the thing about strolling about in summertime woods; never know what you may happen to come across to delight your senses.