I love our neighborhood in early Summer

I live in the older section of Mandarin in Jacksonville. This means that the houses in our neighborhood were built in the 70's or 80's. One of the great things about living in an older neighborhood is that we have mature trees. 

I was taking a walk with the kids and noticed that there is a substantial amount of Confederate Jasmine in the neighborhood. I think it is a southern thing but it really doesn't feel that spring/summer has come until the smell of Confederate Jasmine fills the air. 

The trend in our neighborhood is to have the jasmine around mailboxes or climbing up trees. It is a true testament to how old our neighborhood is when jasmine has climbed to the top of very tall pine trees. I don't mind because it makes the air smell sweet and makes the pine trees just a little bit pretty. They need all the help they can get.

I am trying to figure out how I can get the jasmine to grow on our fence in the backyard. Just imagine that smell as we grilled or played outside with the setting sun. 

Another great summer change is all the wildlife comes out to play . We have four or five lakes in and around our neighborhood.  The lakes bring in ducks and geese. It is fun to hear them fly south starting in the fall. All the honking over our neighborhood. As soon as I hear it, it means that fall is on its way. Once spring & summer comes, you can seem them walking down our street on their way from one lake to the other. 

As I was out cleaning our windows this morning and the geese walked by. I quickly grabbed H since A was asleep and we decided to check them out. He was too young to remember seeing them last summer. 

H loved to watch them walk by. We were able to follow them for a while. He would howl laughing every time they made noise. 

Aren't they beautiful creatures! 

Summer seems to make everything seem more alive and beautiful. 

I hope you all have a great Monday!

KK