Summer is its own gift, from the solstice to the equinox, but there is something about the first nine or so days, the June part of summer, that feels most wild and tender.  We've made it through winter, and, as in this year, a tempestuous spring.  It was cold, we had blizzards, it was rainier than usual, and a friend left this earth.  But here right now is the morning sun, incredible warmth, the green marsh, the call of Red-winged Blackbirds, the sparkling Connecticut River, the glass-calm Long Island Sound.