things I like about summer
In summer, I like getting out of bed wearing only boxer shorts, period. Not two pair of socks, silk longjohns, sweatpants, T-shirt, sweatshirt and fleece sweater...the typical Winter straight-out-of-bed garb.
...getting out of bed and going straight to the coffee pot. Not going out on the porch where it is obscenely dark and cold in all the garb mentioned above to get kindling to start the fire. On a summer early morning, there will be no crumpling of newspaper, no wiping soot off the sleeve of my fleece sweater. In summer I won't bang my knuckles on the woodstove door pulling singed digits back from a smouldering fire that all of a sudden leaps into a conflagration, a sampling of July sun, up close and personal.
I like sitting on the front porch in my boxers with a cup of coffee in the mornings. Maybe two cups.
... and listening in the early dark to the quiet sounds not made by man, while sitting in my boxer shorts, on my front porch, with a cup of coffee, straight out of bed.
... then the warmth of the morning sun on my bare legs, while sitting on the front porch, listening to the quiet sounds of nature, holding a good book in my hands--which are not covered in soot.
... the warmth of the morning sun on a vine-ripened tomato eaten whole in the garden, standing in my skivvies, while I can still taste my first cup of morning coffee.
... I like the smells that rise from the warm earth, wafting on the rays of the morning sun--the smell of pollen like bread baking, lilacs, yellow sweet clover, spearmint along the creek, damp loam...the smell of coffee and of ripe tomatos.
I like the orderly rows of stacked firewood that season behind the house, waiting for a time when the sun's scorching heat will be only a uncomfortable memory, its pleasant warmth a fleeting rarity. In the heat by the stacks of winter wood, I like the sour stink of oak, the medicinal astringence of walnut, and the sweet smell of cherry. Each piece of it from woodlot to face cord has been handled over and over by these hands that will in a few long months crumple newspaper and offer every one of those stacked pieces of cordwood one by one into the stove, a sacrament, while my mind thinks back to how very pleasant it was to be effortlessly warm, to smell the earth, to live in my skin alone, and to have experienced summer.
From the Deep Archives of Fragments, July 9, 2002. How well I remember writing this. A refugee from Alabama, July is my least favorite month, and summer not my favorite season. I wrote this in the infancy of my writing and blogging life as an exercise in character improvement (mine), toward coming to love my enemy and blessing them what curses me. I even remember which pair of boxer shorts I was wearing when I wrote it. (This piece came to me yesterday as I drove to work in the muggy heat, grumbling about summer's shortcomings. I laughed out loud, and thot I'd see if I could find it for you. What do YOU like about summer? Share with us.)
Comments
What? No photos of Phred and his boxers on the front porch? Oh, I forgot. You're camera is broken.
Just as well. :)
Posted by: Doug Thompson | July 15, 2006 7:06 AM
While there's not a whole lot for a mountain girl to like down here in Florida in summer, I do like my grass green and not brown - and there's a lot more room down here in summer. :-)
I never thought I'd say this, but I think we've had the best weather in the country down here this year so far! Summer has been mild so far (amazing!) and the mosquitos apparently took a heck of a hit from the dought we had (even MORE amazing!). The afternoon storms haven't been so bad, and there's been a nice afternoon breeze WAY inland to cool us off (relatively speaking). I wish every summer down here was like this one.
Hurricane season is fixin' to move into second gear though, so I'm knocking on wood. :-)
Posted by: M. Lawless | July 15, 2006 8:00 AM
Your book arrived today. I have to confess -- back in the days when I was a regular reader here, I never quite "got" your desire to have a book published. It seemed unnecessary given what you have here.
I get it now. The book is beautiful, inside and out. It's going to be like my hidden spot in the swamp, something I can return to again and again when I need a quiet place to escape the noisiness of this world. Like my spot in the swamp, will help to remind me of what really matters.
Congratulations on the job so well done.
Posted by: Trey | July 15, 2006 2:35 PM
Summer comes...and I go, at last, back to the mountains of West Virginia, back to my land and family, Mother's biscuits and wilted lettuce, pinto beans, onions and cornbread and TOMATOES TOO...away from these manicured lawns and the thousands of cars.
Posted by: Sandra | July 15, 2006 5:41 PM
TOMATOES,and all the fresh vegetables...are the best things about summer. A plate brimming with snap beans and ham and newly dug potatoes, creamy corn, a slice of hot cornbread, and as many slices of ruby red tomatoes as you can pile on......that's what summer is all about.
Posted by: norma d | July 16, 2006 12:36 AM
Morning Fred, I just heard a report that the average temperature this year has been 3 deg. above normal...Must make the boxers seem like more than enough. Be happy though, I see they are predicting 110+ for North Dakota.
Just to put it all in perspective, the temp here in SE Texas this morning at 9am is 79 with a 89% humidity...Talk about a change from the NC mountains of last week when the temp. at this time of mornings was in the 50's.
Posted by: Gary Boyd | July 16, 2006 10:05 AM
Fruit. The abundance of cheap fruit in the local supermarket is just amazing this time of year. The idea that peaches from South Carolina can be picked, shipped, and sold at a profit for 59 cents a pound in VA is just amazing. That reminds me, the wife and kids should be due for a trip to the local blackberry farm...
Posted by: COD | July 16, 2006 12:47 PM
I like the warm sun on my skin, the coolness of the water at the pool or the beach, the refreshing breeze that occasionally rises up, the fresh fruit - especially when slightly chilled, and the laughter of kids playing long into the evening.
I DON'T like the oppressive heat, the sinus infections, the pounding headaches, or the pool of sweat that inevitably collects under me.
Posted by: Joanie | July 17, 2006 10:38 PM