I dream about this time of year on those long, dark cold days in February.
Trouble is when it finally arrives, it only lasts a little while, but then you have to make the most of it when it arrives.
We headed down to Gun Lake over last weekend to welcome Jack’s brother Brent and his wife Cathy home from their winter place in Naples. We arrived on Friday afternoon and managed to get our first boat ride of the summer in before the sky turned dark and the rain started. Unfortunately, that was the weekend that the thermometer dipped back down in the 40s at night and stayed cool for the next couple of days.
We had a great time anyway with games, shopping and dinner out. I believe I may have gained three pounds while we were there…Cathy is a great hostess that believes in feeding us all day long…
Anyway, now we are winding up the month of May and June is arriving next Wednesday. Memorial Day is this weekend and the summer events are beginning with Harrison’s annual Car and Bike Show this Sunday. This weekend is the one to remember all the ones we have lost over the years, and we will be putting our flowers out for them on Monday.
It’s the beginning of summer, my absolute favorite time of year, a time especially made for kids and grownups alike.
School is out (or almost out) in the area schools and the kids are looking forward to a long, long summer vacation.
Some of the best things about early summertime are those hazy evenings when the sun lazily sets after 9:15 p.m. and the scent of flowers [the lilacs are in bloom] and fresh cut grass is everywhere.
You see couples strolling around town in the evening, youngsters riding bikes and skateboards, swimming in the afternoons in the lake or catching pollywogs and minnows at the edge of the river.
These days are just made for spinning on a tire swing in the sunshine and splashing in a wading pool in the backyard. And, for sitting around bonfires after dark and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the coals of a dying fire.
Rain is a welcome interlude, especially when you listen to it drumming on the roof in the dark. In fact I was listening to it today, as I was finishing up this week’s articles (Wednesday). There’s something exciting about a summer thunderstorm crashing through the sky after dark and nothing in the world like that incredible fresh scent that comes right after the rain.
It is so peaceful just sitting outside and listening to the birds and frogs singing in the twilight.
Just driving around the area, something I have more time for now, is an adventure – seeing deer wandering everywhere, sometimes with new fawns.
You wake up to birds singing at dawn and hear them making music again just before the sun sets on a dead calm warm evening.
It is a time to be outside as much as possible, watching the sun light up the eastern sky in the morning, taking a nap in the hammock (if you have one) in the afternoon and listening to the geese heading back across the field to their pond for the night just after the sun sets.
For kids, it is never ending days of play, outside with friends, going to the lake or river and jumping in shivery cold water on a blazing hot afternoon.
It’s sitting on a riverbank with a fishing pole waiting for that “big bite,” and not even minding when it doesn’t happen.
It’s popsicles that melt before you can eat them, eating ice cream cones in the shade or munching on big chunks of watermelon and seeing who can spit the seeds the farthest.
It’s long bike rides and picnics on a blanket in the yard.
It’s sitting in a lawn chair outside after dark and counting the stars.
It’s summertime.
Don’t you wish you could be a kid again?
