Diving into the Deep End of Summer . . .

 

(source)

 I was watching an episode of This is Us (love that show) last night and the Pearson family had gone to the pool for the day in an effort to stay cool. It made me think of when I was a child growing up here in Nova Scotia, and of how every day in the summer months was spent at the outdoor pools on the base, often beginning with frigid swim lessons at 8 in the morning!  I did this right up until I was about 15 years old when it suddenly became uncool, this hanging at the pool.

My friends and I used to like ogling the life guards. They had the best tans and were seemingly much more mature than the boys our own age who spent the afternoons hanging around the deep end just in case someone lost their shorts or top when diving in.  And when they weren't doing that, they were flicking towels in an effort to flirt with the girls who were ogling the life guards.

Summer rights of passage  . . . like collecting popsicle sticks and wrappers for the gifts advertised on the sleeves, supper time feasts of buttery corn on the cob, BBQ's with hamburgers and hotdogs, blueberry picking, catching lightening bugs, evening thunderstorms that cleared the air, the smell of the mosquito sprayer that seeped into your bedroom in the morning, prompting you to get up right away and slam the window shut . . . laying out on the picnic table in the back yard late at night to watch the meteor showers . . . 

Summer rituals, rights of passage . . . ways to capture the ending of those glorious warm, hot days that would suddenly start slipping off the pages of the calendar at an alarming rate as the beginning of the new school year loomed . . .  

 

Jake enjoying a waterfall

We never really went anywhere in the summer when I was a child. If we had a holiday at all it was to go and visit my father's mother up in Northern Quebec. We had no lakeside cottage like some of the people on the base. The pool was our summer.  We lived in an area where we were never more than about 20 minutes from the seaside, but we never went.  I have really been enjoying my DIL's photos of the three J's all summer as they go off on one adventure or another each day.   They have packed a whole lot of summer into their days.  They have really dove into the deep end of summer . . . its been fun to see.

Play is one of the most sacred experiences we can have. As adults we often ignore or set aside the need for play, but it can make all the difference in the world to us as our days saunter on towards the autumn and winter days of our lives.

It is never too late to dive into the deep end of summer.  We may be older, with more grey hairs then we can count . . .  and our lifeguard ogling, towel snapping days may be long behind us . . .  but there is nothing in the rule book that says we cannot have time for play . . . 

This is something I need to remind myself of frequently. 

Bluejay and peanut, Cindy's yard

Its about getting the most from every day and making hay while the sun shines.  I love to sit and watch the hummers battling it out around the feeder.  The quick visits from Chippy  begging for nuts . . . the old guys sitting on their porches watching the traffic flow . . . the older lady from down the road making her way up and down the street with her walker. I admire her so . . . the smell of frying bacon wafting in the early morning air, as the sounds of the electrical wires humming fills the air  . . . 

Sitting under my sister's car port watching the jays and the pigeons, the chickadees, crows, red squirrels, etc.  Listening to the crickets . . . taking in the colors of the cosmos and petunias that Dan has so lovingly planted and talking about the runner beans and how long they are getting . . . making plans to sew this or to sew that . . .  just relaxing in a cool spot in the warmth of the day with the people that you love.

It reminds me of an episode of Andy Griffith where they are all sitting out on the porch on a Sunday afternoon . . . Aunt Bea snapping beans, Andy playing a few licks on his guitar, while Opie sits on the steps of the porch whittling . . . Barney waving his hat back and forth in an effort to make some air . . . 

Its these simple things of summer which constitute the diving in. Its the puttering . . .  the every day joys and pleasures that some might take for granted.  But not me . . .  I go in head first every time and come up sputtering with joy . . . 

 

Josh and Jake, gathering

I've learned a few new things this summer.  

Like  . . .  Jake enjoys Dinosaurs and wants to be an actor or a Paleontologist  when he grows up. I suggested that he could have his own TV show like Bill Nye the Science guy and do both. I wish I could have taken him to the British Museum to see the Dinosaur display in there.  

Jon wants to design video games and Josh wants to be a geologist and play with rocks.  And they are all really nice boys.

Doug sends me sound bites of his guitar playing and they're good.

My son Anthony sends me wibbly wobbly eye videos that he and Luke have made and they make me laugh. And we talk about Indian food and spices and life . . . 

And I like the peppermint tea from Tim Hortons  . . . very refreshing. 

That my cats are expert fly catchers . . .  I don't need a swatter at all. 

And the days slip by . . . each one becoming that little bit shorter . . . its getting dark earlier . . .  but that is very good for star watching and meteor showers.  

Each day I lose more than a few minutes to serenity, and its a nice feeling . . .  a very nice feeling.  Much better than all work and no play  . . . 

Life is good, very good . . .  and filled to overflowing with normalcy and routine . . .  and simple pleasures.

 

Jake, a cucumber, and his baby blues . . . 

"With innocence and surprise, one regards life's spectacles

and underpinnings. All one feels is affectionate curiosity

for the whole bustling enterprise of creation. It doesn't matter

what prompts the feeling  -- watching albatrosses court or

following the sky blown oasis of a tumultuous sunset.

When it happens we experience a sense of revelation and gratitude.

Nothing need be thought or said. There is a way of beholding

in play that is a form of prayer." ~Diane Ackerman

How have you been diving in? 

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

•。★★ 。* 。

° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚

˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛

˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

*A sheltered life can be

a daring life as well.  For all

serious daring starts from within.

~Eudora Welty  •。★★ 。*  

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Classic Snickerdoodles. The small batch recipe.  Delicious. (I know I say that all the time, but I mean it!)

Have a wonderful Wednesday. Off to the Vet with Little Mac and Cindy this afternoon and out for supper with dad tonight.  Whatever you get up to be happy, safe, healthy, and don't forget! 

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And I do too!