It feels like an old-fashioned Summer. Not questioning why, just accepting. I get this feeling every year, when certain plants bloom, with the feel of the air on my skin, as I spend more time outdoors. It takes me back to my childhood when Summer meant a certain amount of freedom and creativity! The Spark migration project has triggered some of the "Summer enrichment programs" feelings. They used to just call them Summer Reading programs when I was a kid. But when asked in a survey for my favorite season, Summer is the answer, and that's why... it takes me back to my youth.
Pre-air conditioning, we had to find other ways to stay cool. Playing poker under the weeping willow in my folks' back yard. Making our own wind on bicycles or skateboards. And the classic swimming lessons and "going to the pool". Reading books on the front porch of the house we rented when I was in first grade. Visiting Grandmas for a week and sleeping in a screened in porch. Having "tea" parties with 7-Up in that porch, or out on the clover in her front yard, blanket spread for a picnic. Making hollyhock dolls at the other Grandma's house. The smells, the sights, the sounds... of Summer.
OK, Barb, time to shake yourself out of the reverie and prepare for living in TODAY! I'm headed in to see the doctor this morning, where he hopefully will give me blood test results. It's the first visit since getting vaccinated against Covid-19. They were just getting the health care workers covered, back in January! I didn't get my own shots until March. We are back to face to face visits.
Time to go cook the healthy breakfast! You all know what I'll advise: let's get out there and LIVE, the best Wednesday, July 14, 2021 we can manage, wherever we sit on life's journey. Because it's the only one we'll ever get, and LIFE is good!💖✨ Spark on!
I followed your link from Spark to MFP and then here. All the links work great. I have been poking around MFP because of your blogs and comments but haven't signed up yet. I shall let you know if I actually land there as I am still figuring out what I need in my life and what needs to fade away. - Hugs and Sparkles
ReplyDeleteThis transition has certainly made a lot of us exercise our brains, and prioritize what's REALLY important in our experiments of ONE. Hugs and Sparkles back!
DeleteExercising our brains are certainly good words, OneKidsMom. It's been quite awhile since I've been on MFP. I'd quite forgotten a lot of it. But, I do remember how easy it is to look up recipes or even nutrition information as compared to Sparks. Much better information, if you ask me. Especially for some restaurant menus.
DeleteI'm happy to be with a lot of former Sparkers as well. Keep smiling. :)
It's all of 61 here right now and overcast with smoke from the western fires. Should stay cool here to today.. Grandsons are coming so I'll be getting plenty of exercise!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a solid plan. Enjoy!
DeleteMidwest summers...under our willow tree was home for my best friend and our baby dolls. Lots of good memories. Good luck with the doctor visit.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Good doctor visit... keep on doing what I'm doing, it's working... and see you in January for the annual checks!
DeleteExpecting storms here, but right now, the sun is lighting up the sky!
ReplyDeleteGood luck w/the Dr. visit.
Hugs
Thanks. It was a good visit... the numbers on the bloodwork were great, and I'm clear to keep on keeping on doing what I'm doing!
DeleteI noticed that too - those darker mornings. to be expected of course but still ... it's like seeing school supplies in Walmart the day after the 4th of July.
ReplyDeleteEwww... are school supplies out already? Of course they are! School starts here in mid-August!
DeleteSuch peaceful summer memories. We usually visited Granma in the summer ... Texas scorching hot humid summer time.
ReplyDelete🙄
Yes, heat is a big part of Summer memories!
DeleteWe had a screened in porch my brother and I used to sleep on in summer. The only problem was being so close to the water that it was very damp every morning!
ReplyDeleteAnd summer bugs! Now that the cicadas have died off we have our 'tree singer'(no clue what they are) bugs that remind me of camp!
Oh, I forgot the summer bugs... the lightning bugs at night! And the singing bugs! Yes, it's all part of the memories!
DeleteIt was soooooo hot in our upstairs bedrooms at times growing up. My mother let us try to get to sleep putting wet facecloths on our chests…or we built tents with blankets over the clothesline…until something g spooked us and we ran for the house.
ReplyDeleteWhat great Summer memories!
DeleteThis blog answered my comment on the SP Friend Feed. With blue being my favorite color, I am really taken by this sky shade. ~PHOENIX1949
ReplyDeleteI commented back on your Spark page, but essentially said the same thing the blog does.
DeleteI feel that way about this summer, too.
ReplyDeleteLast summer I was already “retired,” and enjoying being home. but 2020 was just so strange and anxiety provoking on so many levels. I *survived* last summer but I didn’t *enjoy* last summer.
This summer I feel like I can breathe again. I have genuinely enjoyed our impromptu cookouts and sitting on the porch watching the rain and helping my beans twine their way up the trellis into a living awning.
Time is stretching out again, the way it used to when I was a kid, and I’m *noticing* things. Like a tiny cricket in the grass, or new little reddish leaves on the Meyer lemon tree.
I’m re-learning how to just *be.*
(And I remembered to “copy” this before hitting “publish” 😉)
You have captured the essence of THIS summer, compared to LAST summer! Yes, a new appreciation for what we have, i.e. LIFE!
Deletewhat fun summertime memories
ReplyDeleteHope your trip to the doctor gives you satisfaction or at least a benchmark. Summer days, like all my retired days, go swiftly by even though I am doing things I find relaxing and enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteIt was one of those "happy visits" where the test results were all good and I got cleared to keep on doing things I enjoy doing!
DeleteGlad to hear the Dr. visit went well.
ReplyDeletePT was good; I came home and walked 1.6.
We'll see how stiff I am tomorrow morning!
🤞🤞 Hope you're not too stiff tomorrow! Feeling a little "finish line syndrome" after doctor visit... and being alert to that influence!
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