July, all decked out in red white and blue, arrived today fully primed to celebrate our nation’s anniversary this week and also a year at high noon.

The month brings a full consignment of fireworks to memorialize her arrival, as hazy, soft blue morning skies merge with the dark thunderclouds of summer. The growling packs race across the afternoon skies, barking bolts of untamed flame and bearing buckets of refreshing rain that drums across the land.

These are fulfilling times, when living becomes lavish under the outspread arms of oak and maple, offering comforting shade and shelter.

July brings Queen Anne’s lace and weeds tall and lush. Vines of yellow-flowered cucumbers and summer squash, nature's symbols of fertility, are now laden with swelling pods of summer. Corn on the cob and watermelon, cool and sweet, wait beside farmers markets. The mourning dove coos in the morning light, and new-mown grass perfumes the air.

July days are the pinnacle of summer, well suited to casting aside foolish fears of that which we cannot change, and listening to the birds sing. It’s also a time to give thanks for a nation and people that have brought us such pleasure and enlightenment.