Perhaps Summer is not that awful.
There are things about it that are really quite nice, such as the current colour of the hill opposite. I do like green.
Sometimes I could almost be enthusiastic about Summer.
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Back when I was a working girl, I dreaded January and February because we were likely in those months to be hit with snowstorms.
In those days I wasn’t a fan because it made a mess of the airport and a terror of the 30-mile drive there and back.
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Retiring, I did a complete about-face.
Now June and July are the months I least care for. By August we start seeing the leaves turn, so I can tolerate that month.
Tolerate? How ridiculous. In my 75 years I have had to tolerate a few things but there is nothing in my present life that could be thus defined.
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Heat and bugs and not being able to properly tend to the garden. They scarcely constitute a hardship and at my age do I really want to be wishing time to pass quickly?
In the past 5 years, I have made a lot of mental adjustments and I can surely alter my attitude toward Summer.
Things to enjoy in Summer:
An avenue of Shag-bark trees.
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No Summer crowds here.
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Fields of snow are grand.
But so are fields of grass, waving in the wind.
A mild wind, that feels good on the face.
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A drive through the country
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We won’t come down this hill in the winter!
Steeper than it looks.
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You could say that the land has reached its peak. The trees are completely filled out and everything is lush.
Soon hot weather will set in and in a matter of weeks the peak will begin to wilt, and give way to end-of- summer fatigue.
Just part of the cycle.
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Though its current purpose is unknown, the old coaching hotel in Hoosick still looks quite smart.
Someone tends the flower boxes.
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Turning off the road onto our lane we twisted our necks hoping for sight of deer and suddenly realised there was one right beside us, transfixed momentarily.
She didn’t hang around to say hi!
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She leapt off into the undergrowth.
We turned the corner looking for others but only saw the recently graduated hooligans on a power line.
The frenzy at our feeders is slightly less noisy now, the Grackle and Red-wing kids being a bit more polite.
But the suet is still in high demand.
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What’s nice right now is that I can run out to the suet feeders in my bare feet, without pulling on a lot of extra clothing.
And if I’m quick about it, maybe the bugs won’t get me.
But if they do, they do.
“Summer time and the living is easy.” You are lucky, Carolyn, to just admire the beauty of nature
around you, and not being tempted to go where there are no grasses and no life.
Joanna
Perfect, just perfect!
You are definitely surrounded by intense green colours on your drive – it’s beautiful! I like all seasons, but I’m not a fan of wind. For me, this is one of the most difficult weather conditions when we hike (especially if it’s against the wind)!
I love to listen to the wind and a gentle tropical breeze is good but I actually don’t like the feel of wind either. I can’t stand fans even. Hiking in a strong wind must be exhausting.
I yearn for summer. I tolerate Hay Fever, insect bites, sultry nights struggling to sleep, anything that brings no rain. Rain is my enemy now, not cold. I can tolerate cold, but rain depresses me. With rain comes mud, and mud depresses me. Then the afternoons of winter, dark by 3:30pm. They depress me.
Our summers are short, and we should not complain about humid nights sleeping under a fan.
Because winter is long. So much longer. Winter feels like death, as I get older. I feel sure I will die in the midst of winter someday.
Best wishes, Pete.