Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Renewal

Oh, my! It's Summer

Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”
Ray Bradbury (Dandelion Wine)

With Memorial day over, we usher in summer in a very real way. Here in Alabama, the temperatures are now in the 90's and the reproduction of life is in full swing. I've already spent a day pulling trumpet vines out of the fig tree, and weed-eating the Virginia creeper that's mounting a take-over of the back yard. It's amazing how quickly everything goes mad as soon as the earth warms up.

We humans warm up and go slightly mad, too. I'm not sure what it is about summer that brings out the wild romantic in people; maybe it's memories of youthful summer adventures when school was out and freedom made us giddy. Even elderly writers wax poetic. Pablo Neruda wrote in 100 Love Sonnets: “Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.” And, Maud Hart Lovelace, not a racy woman by any account, wrote in Betsy-Trace and Tib: “It was June and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powered gold over the grassy hillside.” My, my.

Perhaps the freedom of wearing fewer clothes brings out the nudist delight in us. In trolling for quotes this morning, I saw one by country music singer, Kenny Chesney. I didn't read the quote because right beside it was a photo of a half-naked Kenny with a beach backdrop. My first thought was, why wear clothes if you look like that. Even old ladies perk up in summer.

Summer is the season of regeneration and rapid growth, and also, of love and ripe tomatoes, of juicy peaches and cantaloupe. Walk out today and breathe in the green exuberance and wildly active energy in your environment. Be blessed and recharged. Life is renewing itself. You can, too.

                                                                In the Spirit,

                                                                    Jane 

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