Some Sunday Summer Thoughts

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

Henry James

We are now in what I think of as the "high" days of summer - it is not quite the end of July, it is still light out quite late into the evening, and at least one more month of lovely weather stretches out ahead of us. 

I know I have said this before, but the older I get, the more I love summer. 

Summer is easy.  Summer is warm.  Summer is fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, flowers on the table, boat rides, long walks. 

I have been fortunate this summer to have so much time to enjoy the gifts of summer.  At times, the summer days and nights seem to go on forever and I guess they do. 

If you close your eyes, the buzz in the air that you hear is the same buzz of insects you heard when you were five, fifteen or twenty-five years old.  The chlorine smell in the pool is the same chlorine smell as when you took that "learn to swim" class when you were five years old at the local pool.  If you close your eyes, that root beer popsicle is that same one that you got when you biked to the corner store for the first time all by yourself when your parents gave you that quarter "just because". 

I have this thing that I like to do: when I am in the midst of doing something wonderful, or am so fortunate as to see something that I think it really lovely, I stop and take a mental picture, savouring the joy and beauty around me.  I seem to do that a lot in the summer.  And now, because of you all, I often take my camera with me so that I can capture and share the image with you.

Summer evenings are a gift: warm air, the crickets singing, even the hum of the neighbour's lawn mower has a sweetness about it.  If you are lucky, you catch the glimpse of a firefly, the flash of a bat, a sky full of stars.  If you time it  right, you catch the sunset, which, like the flowers and the trees and acts of kindness, always makes me feel that there is a higher power. 

Recently, we've had a few lovely sunsets and have caught a few of them on film. I thought I would share a few photos and a hope that on the next sunny evening, you'll step outside and enjoy your own sunset - they are so lovely and July is fleeting...

 

Have a lovely summer Sunday and stay safe out there...