Quote of the Day (Poet James Thomson, on Summer)

“Who would in such a gloomy state remain
   Longer than nature craves; when ev'ry muse
     And every blooming pleasure wait without,
       To bless the wildly devious morning walk?”— Scottish poet and playwright James Thomson (1700-1748), “Summer,” in The Seasons (1726-1730)

The accompanying photo I took eight years ago shows one of the best places to visit on any summer--or, for that matter, spring or fall--day: the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

Quote of the Day (James Thomson, to God, Praising Summer)

“Then comes Thy glory in the summer months,
With light and heart refulgent. Then Thy sun
Shoots full perfection thro' the swelling year;
And of Thy voice in dreadful thunder speaks--
And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve,
By brooks and groves, in hollow-whisp'ring gales.”—James Thomson (1700-1748), from The Seasons (1744)

I took the accompanying image recently at Englewood’s Flat Rock Brook Nature Center.