Flower is on one side of me on the sofa. Hazel is on the other side, perched on the arm of the sofa under the table lamp. The windows are all open and I hear the neighbors and their guests talking and laughing on the patio next door. Several blocks over, a lawnmower drones, and the ice cream truck is jangling past houses three blocks west of us.
PC is in the garage, talking to his brother on the phone. Rabbit fell asleep on a pile of pillows on the living room floor and is now sprawled on her bed, still wearing the dress she put on this morning, her first day of summer vacation less thrilling than she had anticipated. She ate fast food with daddy for lunch and requested a fried egg and toast for supper. Now she’s worn out from a day of sheer boredom and snoring in her room at 8:00 at night on a Friday.
Before supper, Rabbit and I watered our little garden and Rabbit showed me another grape tomato that was almost ripe enough for her to eat. We watered the petunias and roses in front, and Rabbit pulled the dead flowers off the stems to make way for more of the new pink blossoms.
The birds are strolling through the grass looking for bugs and the dishes are stacked in the sink in the kitchen. A motorcycle zips past outside and I hear screen doors slamming up and down the block, and smell a waft of barbecue.
Man, I love summer.
The world seems to come alive during the summer months, doesn’t it? Especially in smaller towns and the countryside. People in the larger cities just shut their doors and shut the world outside no matter the time of year. There’s a great deal to be said for small town America.
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
Those of us in larger cities shut our doors, and head out to a minor-league, or major league baseball game tonight. Or we go to First Friday, when the city’s art galleries downtown throw wide their doors for night-time openings. We gather at the homes of friends for dinner, or picnic in the park. It’s officially the start of summer everywhere today, however, and people observe it in their local custom. I spent it with friends at their backyard pool.
Nothing better than summer.
My kids still have three days of school!
We don’t have major league baseball, or a neighbor with a pool.
To me, summer is picnics, camping, fishing, and other outdoor activities. Dr K, a big city boy, had never been on a picnic until we had one at a local lake. He sat stiffly on the blanket, complained about the wind, the bugs, the people, the dogs, the people with dogs, and barely touched the picnic lunch I so lovingly put together. After about a half hour of his whining and my suggestions that he just TRY to enjoy himself, we packed up and went home. I can’t imaging him fishing (too messy) or camping (what? no queen size bed?).
Too bad he didn’t grow up in the States where you learn to love those things.