SUMMER DAYS

 

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

~ Mary Oliver [Summer Day]

What summer means to me....

: unscheduled days

: the air conditioner constantly running

: temperatures that come with a heat advisory

: humidity, humidity, humidity

: afternoon thunderstorms

: lightening bugs

: checking the Weather Channel every morning
   for hurricanes

: the sound of cicadas at dusk

: wearing tank tops and shorts
  or a sun dress if I go to town

: picking blueberries

: pretty painted toe nails

: checking the fig tree daily so I can beat the
  birds when the figs are ripe

: naps in hammock under the pecan tree

: homeschool book lists

: picking dinner from the garden

: sun tea

: canning food

: popsicles

: weekly [daily] beach trips

: staying up too late reading

: new flip flops

: dragon flies on the back steps

: movies at the drive - in

: hanging clothes on the clothes line

: snacking on watermelon all day long

: bike rides early, early in the morning

: snakes in my yard [ six so far ]

: the smell of fresh cut grass

: weeding the garden

: flat ironing my hair [see humidity]

: playing horse shoes

: my youngest son's birthday [17 this year]

: spur of the moment road trips

: more time to knit

: anklets and toe rings

: sunscreen

: aloe when I don't use enough sunscreen

: trying on bathing suits [sigh]

: wild flowers in vases


What does summer mean to you?



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