Saturday Afternoon

A Saturday afternoon in the summer….could there be anything more perfect.

I sit at my desk, a brief summer thunderstorm just rolled through. It was the kind of summer storm you hope cools things off but as soon as it ends you realize it’s just as humid as before. But the wind it rolled in on blew the smoke and haze from the Canadian wildfires out of the area. It was the kind of storm that begins with the wind and ends with a downpour that lasts approximately 3 minutes. All that for 3 minutes you think.

I had waited just long enough to begin cutting the grass that as soon as I gassed up the lawnmower it started raining, and now the grass is to wet and it’s too late in the day to mess around with that.

The rain was just enough to water the garden. As I sit here I can see the kitchen table which is already full of cucumbers. There’s at least 2 dozen cucumbers we’ve picked in the last couple of days. It’s that time of year when my wife makes cucumber salad every week and everywhere we go we take a bag of cucumbers to pass out to friends and family. At first everyone is very happy to receive garden fresh cucumbers but I know in a couple of weeks when I give them another armload of cucumbers they’ll have that look on their face, that look that says

“I don’t know what to do with all these cucumbers, everything cucumber dish I know I’ve already made, please stop bringing me cucumbers”

Sometimes I think cucumbers are the fruit cake of the vegetables. Everyone acts like they like receiving them but they quickly pass it on to someone else. But then I realize that zucchini is truly the fruit cake of vegetables as I’ve never done anything with a zucchini except pass it on or let it rot and then throw it out to the animals. The raccoons out here know that any left over zucchini and cucumbers we can’t pass on to friends will soon be late night snacking for them.

My mom loved zucchini and would always use it as a side dish in the summer and when there was too much of it, as there invariably always is, she would make zucchini bread. Knowing that my siblings and I generally detested the taste of zucchini she then did the most obvious mom thing…..she tried to tell us it was banana bread. This actually worked for one entire summer and I’m not sure which of us figured it out first but we soon grew wise to the difference in the taste of banana bread and zucchini bread. Even today when my mom presents me with homemade bread or muffins I ask if it’s really banana bread.

This blog post did 2 things…..got me to sit and write and I learned how to spell zucchini….

Peace and Love,

John

It’s Not the End

I’ve noticed that everybody uses Labor Day as some sort of line of delineation. With the beginning of a new school year coinciding with the theoretical end of summer everybody has to lament and ponder about another season passing and what it means.

I really haven’t written anything all summer….in fact my last blog post was ironically back in June when I waxed poetically about long summer days and the possibilities that meant. I even looked into the future knowing that at then end of summer I would look back and wonder where the time went. But as I look out across the yard I see the field of corn still needing to be harvested. It’s not sweet corn to be eaten but field corn to be used as feed for cattle so I know the farmer down the road will harvest it in the next month or so.

I see the hummingbirds hovering around the feeder I have out front. The feeder was a gift from a friend. We were sitting on her porch on a lazy summer evening eating pizza and drinking cold beer. We used to work together so we do this a couple of times a summer to keep in touch and reminisce about the misery and joy of our work days. We talk about other co-workers we’ve seen or never see anymore. We laugh about the stressful days we experienced and the requests from management that seem so silly now that we’ve retired. As we ate pizza I noticed the hummingbird feeder in her yard and the birds hovering and flitting around it. I may have casually mentioned the wonder of the hummingbird probably to keep the conversation going and to avoid a lull that might lead to an early end of the evening. My friend being the generous and kind soul she is showed up at my door a few days later with a hummingbird feeder and now I watch these wondrous small birds hover around my feeder. I especially notice them in the morning or just at dusk the sound of their wings thumping and catching my attention before I even see them.

A slight fog hovered over the ground this morning, the nights have become quite cool and the mornings now require a light jacket. The fog disappears quickly as the sun rises but it’s a reminder of cooler weather to come. The deer have noticed the apple and pear trees are full of fruit. A small fawn still spotted has been wandering around the yard frequently during the day alternating between the fruit trees out front and the corn field in back. Although I haven’t seen his mother I like to think she’s nearby keeping an eye on her young hungry prodigy.

My bike hangs in the garage. I keep thinking I need to clean it after the miles ridden this summer. Living on a dirt road leads to a layer of dirt covering all of it, but instead of cleaning it I’d rather ride it and clean it another day. I wonder if the very act of cleaning it symbolizes an end to my summer rides and that may be the most powerful signal of the end of something.

It’s not a calendar that declares an end but the act of doing or not doing an activity, so no summer is not over, there’s still so much to do and enjoy. Although the mornings are cool and the fruit trees are drooping with fruit and the corn needs to be harvested and yes kids are back to school, it’s the small gentle hummingbird flitting about that remind me to get out and take advantage of these precious days and perhaps it’s time I call my friend and eat pizza on her porch again.

Peace and Love,

John

A New Favorite

I was out on my morning walk today and I glanced at the sky. Usually when I’m on my morning walk I see the sun rise if it’s not obscured by the gloom of a mid-west day or the haze of smoke….I’m looking at you Canada. I often catch the sun just peeking over the horizon and many times I stop and take a picture. It’s interesting to see the different sunrises throughout the year. I’ll look back on the pictures and notice that sometimes it rises over the road but a month later it’s in the field across the way and next month perhaps it’s over by the neighbors barn. What struck me today was that I totally missed sunrise, in fact I’ve missed it for the past couple of weeks.

Now before you accuse me of sleeping in and enjoying extra time under the covers, let me assure you that I’m up at literally the same time every day. A son that’s out the door before 6 and a wife getting ready for work doesn’t exactly create a environment conducive for sleeping in. Add in the fact that as the weather has gotten nicer and the windows are open and I can hear traffic on our road and let’s just say that I’m up before the sun.

But as I noticed the sun this morning, I realized I probably haven’t been up before the sun lately. The sun was already high in the sky, really high and it struck me that June just might be my new favorite month.

Ah June, you temptress, you beguile us with your long days, pleasant weather and mild humidity. The promise of summer stretches before us with endless possibilities. Picnics, days at the beach, romping barefoot thru the grass, cool drinks with ice melting and clinking to the bottom of the glass, bike rides and hikes in tree covered woods….these all seem possible in June with a endless summer before us. July and August quickly become oppressive with your heat and humidity, we close windows and click on air conditioners hiding in the cool comfort of a modern climate controlled environment.

But it is June that the longest days are to be enjoyed, the bugs haven’t yet figured out I’m a walking blood bank to be swarmed at first sight or smell. Yes I know, I’ll probably write a blog post at the end of summer lamenting that I didn’t do nearly all the activities that I planned for the summer and I’ll ponder where the time escaped to, but for now I’ll be up early, maybe not to see the sunrise, but still early and I’ll enjoy the long days, mild temperatures and enjoy the possibilities that June brings

Peace and Love,

John