Summer

Ah, summer. The smell of fresh cut grass, flowers, fireflies, sunscreen, clothes dried in the sunshine, chlorine....

I really enjoy the beginning of summer. This time right now, as it shifts officially from spring to summer. Once summer gets underway, I'm less of a fan. My body doesn't appreciate the heat & humidity, so mid summer becomes a bit challenging. I start looking forward to fall!

Right now though, I'm totally embracing it. It rocks! The morning greets you all bright & sunny, and you want to get out of bed & do something. The evening breeze brings some welcome cooling, & fire pits.

Bike rides, beaches, fishing (which my kiddo hates....who are her parents really?), swimming, hiking, horseback riding (preferred by the child & no one else), BBQ's, porch swings, and this summer will mark my introduction to riding on a Harley.

This will also mark the first summer in years that I actually feel good & am able to do more than sit & watch everyone else having fun! I'm so excited!! We went on a bike ride the other night, than played Just Dance on the wii, and woke up the next day pretty ok! (I should add that the child crushed me - I really should quit trying to 'do' the moves & just shake the stupid remote - might actually stand a chance!)

When I was a little city girl, my parent's took me camping in the woods, in a tent, in a storm, on a lake, with mosquitoes, forced me to sleep in a sleeping bag. Put my own worm on the hook, be quiet while waiting for a nibble, & attempt to take my own fish off the hook. I have only twice in my life actually taken the fish I caught off the hook. The rest of the time it had to be a guy....fish are really gross to touch. Give me manure over a fish any day! My dad even made the effort to teach me to gut a fish. I actually paid attention, but I will not do it!

Then they moved us to the country. I became a little country girl. My parent's made me put up hay in 100 degree weather, muck out stalls when it was so humid you wanted to gag. Mow 2 acres with a push mower & the sun blazing hot. Help plant the garden, put clothes out to dry, haul gravel to rebuild the washed out driveway...

When the work was done though we got to play in the creek, build bonfires, hike through the woods on their property, find bugs, walk to the river & go fishing. Ride our bikes on hills unlike anything we had ever experienced before. Have you ever tried to ride a 'city bike' in the country? There is a reason they make mountain bikes & there is a reason that this is the preferred bike in my neck of the woods.

My fondness for country music stems from the summer. Country artists sing way more songs about summer than any other group. Plus, they sing about all the best things of summer - rope swings, hanging at the river, country roads, bonfires....these are the things that make summer such fun!