What’s In a Summer
I know what summer is. I know that summer is fleeting and will soon
enough turn its sweet sunny smile into the foreboding frown of winter. But! Yes, a
sunburnt “but.” According to Merriam and the other Websters, summer is: “the
season between spring and autumn comprising in the northern hemisphere
usually the months of June, July, and August or as reckoned astronomically
extending from the June solstice to the September equinox.” Oh boy. The better
definition listed was, “a period of maturing powers.” I am going with that one.
Maturing powers of summer. I look very mature while in a water fight with hoses
and balloons. That is about as mature as I will ever be.
Summer tends to give us permission to “let it all hang out.” Enjoy the
wearing of Saturday clothes throughout the week. Fill the fridge and our tummies
with bar-b-q and watermelon. If beer is allowed, beer. If not beer then as much
sweet iced tea as you can guzzle is quite okay during summer.
When you get right down to the nitty gritty, what exactly is in a summer? I
just talked to a man who said there are two types of summer people. Those who
think Disneyland, camping, beach going and family time. The other type are those
hardy souls who see summer as the time to get ready for winter. Cutting wood for
winter, fixing the roof for winter, putting the vehicles in shape for winter. Those
were his only two summer views.
Make no mistake though. Rudyard Kipling wrote in his 1889 poem The
Ballad of East and West, “Never the twain shall meet.” Meaning that the guy
cutting wood only sees winter coming, and the guy who loads up the family to
play all summer long will never have a meeting of the minds over what is in a
summer. Of course the guy who spent all his time at the beach will visit the wood
cutter many times in the winter to warm his backside at the hearth of that wood
fire. He will also probably tell a story or two of frolicking in the waves of a clear
mountain lake. Both are right in the way they spend their summer currency.
Oh currency! The currency of summer! As a past business owner I can tell
you that no matter the bank account balance, when it comes to recreation, there are no holds barred. We humans find that we work hard and we play harder.
When it comes to summer a few words come to mind in planning. Like
unrestricted, unrestrained, anything goes and I like this one, “pulling out all the
stops.” Truly summer is like Christmas that is three months long! But without the
tree and gift wrapping.
A long time ago I remember there was a Christmas Club thing that one
could become a member of through a local bank. People would put a few shekels
in their Christmas Club account each month then in November sometime they
would pull out the pile and spend like a kid in a candy store! We need one of
those for our summers. It could be the Summer Club. I never had a Christmas Club
so I doubt I would put coins into a Summer Club. I did, for many years, buy a U S
Savings Bond each month. Until I went into the bank and was told it was all going
digital and I wouldn’t get that brown envelope each month automatically with
those two $25 bonds that would someday be worth $50 but only cost $25 to buy!
That was like getting a gift every month. Well, things do change, don’t they? For
now let’s go hot footing it along across the summer scorched sand.
Right now summer is coming on stronger each day. It’s hard to imagine
what the people in the southern hemisphere are facing right about now. When
we have the bright yellow summer sun they have the winter blue haze. Makes me
glad I live where I live. Well, that and I don’t think I would ever get used to
watching my toilet swirl counter clockwise.
What is in a summer? Everything you can squeeze into those 2160 hours
from June 21 to September 21. So, wear sunscreen, take a jacket, laugh a lot and
go flush your northern hemisphere toilet.
Trina lives in Diamond Valley, north of Eureka Nevada. Contact her at itybytrina@yahoo.com or Trina Machacek HC 62 Box 62101 Eureka, Nevada 89316
