In Maine, June is surely one of the sweetest months of the year. Everything is new and green. The days are warm, but not too hot. The nights are cool enough to snuggle under blankets, which I love to do. Right now, as I work at my desk, the window is open, and I can smell the scent of early summer coming from the woods.
Living on the edge of the woods brings many pleasures, but there is a disadvantage in the summer—mainly, mosquitoes. Now, they have their place. Mosquitoes provide essential nutrition for adult birds and their babies, and I would never begrudge food for those fluttering, singing beauties. Unfortunately, we provide food for the mosquitoes, and sitting on our patio in June and July after the sun goes down is no fun at all.
What to do? Douse our yard with pesticides? Yeah, right. As if this family of green beans would ever do such a thing, especially as the mosquitoes in Maine do not spread diseases such as dengue fever, malaria, or yellow fever.
Here, then, is our solution for this year, a Christmas present from our daughter Dee.
The gazebo, roomy and airy, allows us to sit on the patio at any time of day. Occasionally, we thumb our nose at the mosquitoes, who cluster longingly around the screen. Outside. Where they belong.
Last week, we had our friends Dawna and Jim over for wine and appetizers, and eating and talking, we spent hours in the gazebo. Green is still the predominant color, but, as Dawna observed, there are many different shades. So there are, and soon, there will be other colors as well.
Dawna brought cheesecake and made the most delicious strawberry-rhubarb sauce to go with it. I could have some right now.
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Readers might recall that several posts back, I featured a bird’s nest that had fallen onto the patio. I love the way feathers were woven into the nest.
I left the nest on the patio, and a week or so ago, as Clif was working on the gazebo, he noticed how a bird came to the nest, picked at this and that, and then flew away. The bird returned over and over, until the nest looked like this:
What a great example of recycling! Years ago, my dear friend Barbara Johnson, who has been gone for over twenty years, told me that when we come upon a nest that has blown down from a tree, it is best to leave it there, as birds will reuse the material for a new nest. Barbara, how right you were.
And, yes, I still miss you very much.
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Watching
Movie
Power Ballad
Directed by John Carney
With Paul Judd and Nick Jonas
If you like Ireland, music, and character-driven stories, then Power Ballad is the movie for you. Paul Judd plays a wedding musician who yearns for more. Nick Jonas plays a boy-band musician who’s lost his mojo. Their stories come together in a bittersweet way, and the movie’s ending is so generous and kind that it moved me to tears and made me think maybe that there is hope for us as a species. Really, I can’t recommend this movie highly enough.
Notes From the Hinterland 
We’re lucky in that our woods are far enough back from the house that the Maine state birds aren’t a bother. Lord knows they can ruin a perfectly good day.
The weather today is perfect. Warm not hot. Sunny not humid. Breezy… and my kind of summer.
Enjoy!
Those mosquitoes can certainly ruin a good time. But our gazebo does a great job of foiling them.
Your idea of fighting the mosquitos are so much better than any pesticides.
Yes, yes!
Lovely outdoor seating area.
Many thanks!
May is like that for me here. It’s my favorite month. Love your screened in gazebo!
What a wonderful gazebo! I know you will all enjoy that this summer and summers to come. Applause to Dee!
I got bit by something last week, and my arm swelled up. I was concerned it might have been a tick, but I kept an eye on it and am happy to report it cleared up. I will admit that gardening almost every day as I do, I use some spray. I’ve seen more ticks this year than any year before.
That movie sounds like a good one. Thank you.
We love our new gazebo! Glad that bug bite cleared up. Darn ticks! I certainly understand why you would use some spray. Power Ballad is such a good movie.
Ahhh, the gazebo is fabulous, the cheesecake looks divine, and I am SO grateful to you for sharing the photos of the bird’s nest along with an explanation. Why am I surprised by the ingeniousness and resourcefulness of wildlife? In any case, I’m definitely delighted.
We, too, were tickled by the recycling of the nest. Glad that Clif saw the bird in action so that he could report back to me.
Power Ballad sounds great! Thank you for the recommendation. I love how you enjoy your yard so much. And that cheesecake with strawberry-rhubarb sauce looks delicious. 🤤
I liked Power Ballad a lot. My one acre never fails to delight me. Oh, that strawberry-rhubarb sauce! So delicious.
With our days getting to their shortest length and weather as cool as it gets here, I am somewhat yearningly looking at your lovely gazebo and wishing to be there. I have had quite a few friends living amidst greenery who have had to resort to the same modus operandi . . . enjoy! Here, at the moment, one closes the door to the patio in late afternoons and does not have to worry . . .
I certainly will enjoy. And you enjoy your cool cozy time. I love all kinds of weather.
Looking at your nest, I was reminded that in a TV program today we were told that birds use white feathers in their nests because of their antibacterial properties. Coloured feathers don’t serve the same purpose.
I did not know that! I wonder why color makes a difference.
I never really thought about mosquitos having any redeeming qualities, but obviously they are food for some. I tried to make a bird’s nest once (long story) and it was much harder than you would think. Birds are brilliant builders!
They certainly are!
Your yard is so green, isn’t the transformation amazing?? Love the new screen house, what a difference it will make to your summer enjoyment of the season. And the recycling of the bird’s nest warmed my heart, awww… 🙂
Love all that green! The screen house is great. So cool that Clif could see the bird in recycling action. Wouldn’t have known otherwise what exactly had happened.
The gazebo looks the perfect solution. Two of our number are mosquito magnets – they could attract them in a snowstorm – which outs paid to lazy evenings in the garden unless they douse themselves in repellant. Especially bad as one of them has a definite allergy to the citronella candles I thought woukd solve all our problems😊 The movie sounds like one for the list!
The gazebo is a great solution! I giggled when I read about how two of your number could attract them in a snowstorm. Our Dee is exactly the same way.
Woah! Fancy gazebo! I went back to your June 2025 post to look at your old gazebo, in case I was remembering it wrong. You placed this new one in a different location? Anyhoo, it all looks so magical (with the added advantage of protection against bugs!).
And that cheesecake …. strawberry rhubard sauce … yum yum
Our old one was a screen house that fit over the umbrella in our table. Unfortunately the zipper broke. The new one is free-standing, but in the same place. We love it! And the cheesecake and sauce was delicious.
For me, May is the best month, June starts the slide towards winter. However, after your eloquence, I could be persuaded.
Perhaps when it comes to the weather, your May is similar to our June. For us, the weather doesn’t warm up until June. But May is grand, too.
That is very likely, and it’s also probably likely that I like May because of the birthday presents. 🙂
Well, a birthday makes any month special. And even in Maine, May is a beauty. What a lovely birth-month.
I’ve always considered myself lucky. 🙂
Interesting to see the nest being reused like that. The gazebo is a great find.
Nature’s recycling! That gazebo is indeed a great find.
Based on your review, I’m going to see this movie!
I think you will like it very much. I know how much music means to you.
Oh, I love the little reused nest pieces. The birds were shopping!
You bet! So much fun to watch.
seems like a good movie – and cheers to Barbara Johnson’s advice – I will leave the nests alone too
She knew so much about the natural world.
😉
That recycling of the nest is the coolest thing ever! I’ve known that it happens, but only in a sort of abstract way. Getting to see the actual result of the process was such a treat! Thanks for sharing that.
Every now and then I get mosquitoes in the house, and I’ve finally found a way to dispatch them. Spraying them from a distance with something like Mrs. Myers or Clorox cleaner drops them in their tracks before they realize their prey has become the predator. Your gazebo’s perfect for outdoors, but the few who get inside require a different technique!
Grateful that Clif was there to watch the recycling extraordinaire.
Such a peaceful backyard! Love the gazebo! Looks like a great place to read a book, as well as chat with friends!
That gazebo is the bee’s knees! I’m so happy you can spend more time enjoying your outdoor patio this summer. I have pale skin so I’m a magnet for mosquitos, and like you, I would never consider pesticides. I recently heard a story on NPR about mosquitos adapting to the smell of DEET.
Thank you for sharing the story about the nest. Recycling birds! Brilliant.
That Gazebo is a great solution to the mosquito and midge problem. It looks large enough for you all to be able to move around easily too. And if the weather turns showery you can still sit out and enjoy the garden.That cheesecake looks delicious.
The gazebo is a great solution, with plenty of room for small gatherings, which is mostly what we have nowadays. The time for big parties is over. Just don’t have the energy for them anymore. But I do enjoy having a friend or two over. Wish you lived close enough to visit.
I dont enjoy big partioies now either. With my hearing problems big groups are overwhelming. I would love to come and see you – what a nuisance that the Atlantic is in the way! I doubt if either of us can afford the airfare.
Yes, I can see how big gatherings are overwhelming. If that Atlantic were not a barrier, we would have a cozy get together on the patio.
Your gazebo look lovely, Laurie! I’m sure you’ll have many happy hours of pleasure over the next few months!
Yes, yes! As we thumb our noses at the mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes are also the bane of our life and they love my jicy, fair skin. The GAzebo with net is an excellent soloution. I love the wooded location. The perfect place to share with friends. Green is a restful colour and your greens are so rich and lush.
Thanks so much! Daughter Dee is also a mosquito magnet. For years, I longed for a full-sun garden bursting with different colors, but that’s not what you get when you live on the edge of the woods. I do have some variation, but green is dominant and I have learned to love it.