www.flickr.comThe calendar doesn't say so, but it's summer here in West "By God" Virginia. It's not the steadily climbing temperatures or the awesome afternoon thunderstorms that confirm summer's arrival so much as two things that are timeless: fireflies and honeysuckle.
Three nights ago, around dusk and in a gently falling rain, I noticed the pasture next to my property sprinkled with the lights of sexually-aroused fireflies seeking mates -- in their first lovely and ritualistic orgy of summertime. As much as I dislike the heat of summer and the unwanted mania that stems from long hours of daylight, my heart opened to the rhythms of new life around me.
Oh, I had heard the calls of great-horned owls mating while the ground was still frozen -- and the soft hoots of newborn owlets in March. Then, in the soggy and cool month of May, as everything flowered, I could listen to the spring peepers, their chorus rising and falling in a lovely, trilling way. But those were signs of spring, which doesn't last long enough in these parts of four roughly-even seasons.
The morning after I saw the fireflies, I walked out early into a damp morning with the sun starting to burn off the fog, and there it was, the other sure sign of summers remembered from my childhood: the sweet smell of honeysuckle, permeating the air I breathed slowly, in and out.
I've read that global warming favors the growth of certain flora, especially vines. Here in West Virginia, our state flower should be something that grows on vines, like honeysuckle. Well, poison ivy is abundant, too, but it's as good for birds and other wildlife as it is toxic to humans, so I am willing to live and let live.
What about the rest of you on Ajax Rock? What says "summer" to you? Is it watermelon-seed spitting or picnics or sunburn or surfing? Is it going barefoot or eating ice cream? Front-porch sitting or hiding out in air-conditioned rooms? Lemonade or Margaritas?
Honeysuckle or fireflies?
11 comments:
This summer it's going to be those lightning bugs and honeysuckle for me! :) Oh, I will now have the anticipation of that smell in my nostrils pulling me north to West-by-God-Virginia this weekend!! And shall I bring an empty jar ready to fill with lightning bugs? Oh, dear. I suppose now I have grown too compassionate to pull off their lights and wear them as rings. How about a game of kick the can, too, my nannygoatsister? :) (If not, I'll settle for badminton!) C'mon, Summer!
steamy highways, beer on ice, sticking my face in convenience store freezers.
I, too am leaving the intense heat of the Florida Sun for OHIO, back to my roots where the summer brings beautiful trees and flowers and soft grass to tickle my bare feet. And yes there will be" honeysuckle" and "lightening bugs" in Ohio also :)
Most of all I will take a big deep breath and know that I am finally back "home" to awake every morning in the foothills of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains :)
And it will be the first summer in a long, long time that the Simpkins sisters are back where they belong, on either side of the same range of the Appalachians. I can see the smile on Momma's face and can hear Daddy saying, "There's always a bed for you right here." God with God, Rita.
And, hey, nephew Juancho, thanks for the tip on the convenience store freezer. When I'm helping move your mom into the toll house on Tuesday in the near-100-degree heat, we can walk two buildings away and stuff our faces into the freezer of the little market on the corner! Might even try a beer on ice. I'm breakin' bad these days. Get this: I went OUT last night to a live music event with "the girls" (okay, my pastor and several women from my church)and had the most fun allowed for a 60-year-old woman. :) Get your butt up here this summer. Direct order from auntienan.
It's REALLY summer for me when I go pick blackberries. It's hot, snaky, and the thorns grab me and don't want to let go. And each and every berry is more the precious for it. They're still not really ripe here but the Lily daughter and I got enough today for pancakes tomorrow.
Summer.
And I picked fresh strawberries from the neighbor's garden this morning while deer watched from the other side of the fence, lusting for those ripe, red berries. I was armed with military-issued mosquito/bug netting over my face and neck, crawling through the berry patch so that I could have those babies on my Kashi Autumn Wheat shredded biscuits with vanilla soy milk for breakfast! Yum-yum! (Though I'm really pushing to find any other reason to like summer, being a self-confessed northern Yankee at heart>)
Summer, for me, are tomato, basil, cheese sandwiches, swimming in the lake, and staying up late. summer is when i smell and don't really care, when i get to see who i want to and rarelly have to talk to those i don't. summer for me really starts with a dance recital and motercycles and ends when the first bell of the first day sounds. summer is for tanning and lupins and sleeping under the stars (or maybe in a tent, so the bugs don't bite) summer is pigtails and braids and thunderstorms in the afternoon. hamaoks(?) and long afternoons of reading. Summer is quiet punctuated by a welcome loudness coming from a little boy. it is green and beautiful and full of life and maybe even a little romance. summer is blowing up floaties and squirting eachother with water in the lake. Childrens theatre and playgrounds.
And after those long New Hampshire winters, I bet you savor every moment way more than the rest of us do. Makes me want to come up and visit! Your entry is the BEST! My summer girl stuck in snowy New Hampshire! :)
by the way Johnny, I stick my face in convenience store freezers too!
horray for weirdness.
To me, summer means waking up at 5:30 AM to walk the dogs before it gets really hot. It means double electric bills to run the AC. It means sweating through my stupid polyester lab coat at work. It means having to shave my legs.
But it also means that Fall is around the corner and as fall is the most bestest season, that makes me happy.
It also means the Good Humore truck will comb around with its little jingle. It means trips to Chincoteague Island. And this year, it means the birth of the much anticipated nephew child. :)
Valiant attempt there, daughter-girl, to wring something good out of these torrid summer months. Already 100 in June is a bad sign.
And, yes, indeedy, fall is the most bestest season!
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