Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

June 15 – 1943 (Tues.)
June 23 – 1943 (Wed.)
The basswood is in bloom, the young wrens in their nest are clamoring noisily for food; roses are in their prime, wild iris is past the crest of perfection; grains, when newly out, still has the rank sickening odor of spring. Mornings are still fresh, but the noon sun has all the power of midsummer. In a word, it is June.
I find it difficult to write in my journal. It does not seem very important whether I paint or not, and so lassitude has me in its grip.
The most important event, in the long silence since May 14, is the departure of Mary Alice for Bristol, Va. Where she has commenced her “army air force inspection” work. We miss her, almost unbearably.
Last Friday (the 18th) I was out painting southeast of East Aurora. First I went to the mint patch near Orchard Park. The mint was so fresh, clean and luxuriant, that I pick a shopping bag full.
Then I drove thru E.A. and South on the Olean Road, a piece, then east, for some distance, to the Strykersville Road, – at Strykersville, I drove east over a dirt road. In the uplands, I parked by the road, and ate my lunch – under an old apple tree, by a field of buttercups. A bobolink