Summer Time


In the old days of Y!360 we had a Word Thursday. It was rather fun partly because people looked up and defined words that meant something to them on that particular day for whatever reason. I had the tendency to use it as a Bush bashing blog. It was maybe one of the shortest of our theme days which included a Movie Monday, Poetry Wednesday, Song Saturday, and Art Sunday.

Those days on 360 remind me of the summers of my youth. We didn't have computers then. And enjoyed what seemed to be totally safe neighborhoods. Within certain limits we got to enjoy our freedom from school and the restrictions it imposed. And yet in our neighborhood we seemed to schedule ourselves to the max. There were plays we put on in our garage using the pull down garage door as a curtain. At Leslie's we closeted ourselves in the cool of her bedroom and played Clue in the hot afternoons. Clue had to be played with accents and dramatizations.

On rainy days we had marathon Monopoly games. And evenings after the monsoon rains passed we rode our bikes around our block and neighboring blocks; loose packs of giggling kids cruising the neighborhoods under pedal power. Parents would drag lawn chairs out front and share cocktails and conversations and gardening tips. There seemed an informal competition on the greenest lawn. Lawns we laid on as the stars came out and you could spot Sputnik and other satellites, count shooting stars.

Summer now seems so busy. Lawns to mow and fairs to prepare for. Repairs that must be done before winter returns. It is not a time I choose to vacation. Too many children running uncontrolled. Too hot. And I feel too guilty about things left undone at home. And yet I will sit on the studio steps and think of those once golden lazy days of summer that were not that lazy.

How are you spending your summer?

Summer:
  • the warmest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox; "they spent a lazy summer at the shore"
  • spend the summer; "We summered in Kashmir"
  • the period of finest development, happiness, or beauty; "the golden summer of his life." 

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