SUMMER

I survive every winter just waiting for the spring signs. The first little spring green to pop its head out of the snow or the frozen ground makes me smile and gain hope that yet another summer will be coming. Some days in February and March, I doubt spring will ever get here let alone summer. This past year, that early March warm up was so welcomed by this winter hating human. Two weeks of superb weather right in the middle of what is usually my least favorite time of the year. I was sooooo happy and got sooooo much yard work done and such a big jump on my season. I wasn't even crushed by the return of colder weather which followed. It was a lovely break in the bleak.

Now summer is nearly here, calendar wise. In my heart of hearts, it IS here. It's warm and we have more sun than clouds and I can sit outside and breathe anytime I want. This is what I thrive on.

Yes, I love swimming and I love flowers and I adore the warmth. I love the green grass and the smells of summer. The birds singing or chirping and the hummers humming around the feeders and stopping mid-flight to look me in the eye and then dart away. The butterflies flitting from flower to flower and looking the Oriole feeders and Hummingbird feeders over and passing on to the next flower bloom for a sip, all make me smile.

The kids bring their kids more often in the summer to swim and cook a dog or burger and share a few hours with us. I love that more than anyone without grand children can even imagine. Splashing around with those babies is what life is all about for this old gal.

I am completely solar powered. When the sun shines, so do I. I get things done and I am just smiling all the time. I don't mind the heat and I don't mind the humidity because for me, this is so preferential to being cold and seeing gloom when I look out the window. Weeding the flowers, cleaning the pool and watering everything is not work, it's love. Then sitting and admiring the yard, the pool and everyone who shares this world with us, that's the payoff. There is nothing about summer that I don't like. Even the bugs and animals who share our space are okay with me. I'd prefer that they stay out of the pool, but now and then one of them commits suicide and I am the one to discover the body and remove it from my pristine water.  Not my favorite thing to do, but it must be done and I'm elected.




The raccoon that insists on emptying my bird feeder in two nights visits is a bit annoying, but he is also very cute and very friendly.  If I open the window and nicely ask him to leave, he just looks around the feeder and shovels 'handfuls' of seed while looking right in my eyes.  He is not afraid of me, at all. I call him Charlie. He is now almost a pet. Hoping he doesn't bring a gang. There were three, he's the only one remaining. I think he's a thug 'coon and has run off the others.  I guess I'll just feed him.

Here is the best shot I got of Charlie because it's so dark when he comes to visit and I had to shoot this one through the screen...but there he is!  Caught white-handed!  Little stinker.



(He will stand with his feet in the lowest feeder and look in the window while he eats. While I say, "Seriously Charlie? Are you going to empty my feeder?"  he just stares at me while shoveling.)

I find my entire life is just better from April through September.  Then in October I begin to feel the veil of fall leading to winter covering me. It's not something I can ignore. It's real and it's strong. The best I can do is fight inside my head day in and day out and once in a while, give in to it and just be sad and unhappy for a day or two. Sun deprivation is difficult, but manageable and I have suffered with it for years. I do not have one single day of that in summer and I am oh, so grateful for that.

I love, love no really  L O V E  every single day of  S U M M E R.

Here is the latest flower area Mike thought I needed. Last week-end was dedicated to this.

Two purple climatis' one yellow rose bush and a million bells tinytunie in the middle.

And three solar birds ~ just cuz they're so cute.






This is just one of a million wonderful moments of kids in the pool....Hailee, Jennifer and Chloe just hanging and posing for Grandma Jo and her camera!

Nothing beats a day of kids and water!





Jo

Solitude

Back when the kids and I were living on our own, I used to watch the clock until it was their bedtime. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy talking with them or playing games with them, I did, sometimes. As a single working mom, I would get home from work and make dinner. Following our meal there were dishes to do, I did them while the kids finished their homework. Laundry would be done most nights immediately following the dishes and a little arguing often was involved. Oh, you know, “Where are your dirty clothes? I’m going to wash clothes, is there anything you want to bring down from your room?”  That doesn’t sound like arguing to you? Oh, I will fill you in then.  Those are the questions I would pose while doing the dishes and they would be about 5 feet away. Their responses would nearly always be, “No, nothing. Mine are all down here. I brought mine down this morning,” or similar things to that. No one ever ignored me or got up to go get something, EVER.  I don’t even know why I bothered to ask these angels such ridiculous questions. Such a silly mom!

So the laundry would get done, folded and laid on the stairs for them to carry up when they went again. On the fourth trip up, I would say something like, “Wanna take those clothes?” That question would float into the air, apparently unheard by anyone other than the speaker. (This would eventually lead to my loudly suggesting they get theirs lazy butts back down here and pick those clothes up or I would be tossing them in the garbage in 5-4-3-2-1 damned minute!)

At bedtime, not a moment before, one would say, “I need my navy pants tomorrow for band.” Or some other piece of clothing for some other activity. “I can’t find them!  Moooooooooooom!  I can’t find my navy pants (or whatever)! Where ARE they (or it)?”

I would take a deep breathe and say, “I didn’t wear them (or it) so I don’t know.”  Sarcastic, you say?  Yes, I am.

“OH, NO! THEY’RE (OR IT’S) DIRTY!  MOOOOOOOOOOOM?  CAN YOU WASH THEM?”

Well, of course, I CAN, but I’m not going to. “No, I am done washing for the day.  You may put them (or it) in to wash and in the morning put them (or it) in the dryer while you shower. That is why I ask you every night to bring me your damned dirty clothes!”  My voice may have raised a few octaves while making my point.

Did you notice the slight arguing there? Repeated several times a week, it’s memorable for me.  ♥

That is why I watched the clock.  They would go to bed and I would have it.  I would have SOLITUDE.  Me, alone with myself time. Time to think about me and my life. My life was making a living for my babies and me. Paying bills and trying to find a little extra cash here and there for some fun things. It was far from an easy life, but it was a good life.

Yep, they drove me nuts with their irresponsible behavior and their inability to see what needed to be done around our house. I wished day and night that they would, just one time, pick up something BEFORE I asked or shouted at them to do just that. I hoped they would make good decisions and was often disappointed with their choices. BUT they were my purpose. I lived for these little people and I prayed that I would be able to mold them, just a bit, into independent and confident adults.

We all look back at our “No, we cannot afford that~who do you think I am, a Rockefeller?” days as some of our best ones.  We did a lot of simple things. Things we did, we did together as a family. I saved a few dollars here and there until we could go to Detroit to see the Tigers. It was our favorite ‘get away’ and it was always a big deal day.  On the way to the park I would always remind them that we could each have one hot dog and one coke.   Or peanuts instead of the hot dog. I was always too full to eat a hot dog, but peanuts could be shared, so I opted for those. They knew and understood our limited budget. Maybe I shared too much, but they knew what was realistic for us and they accepted it without much whining. We all loved that day at the ball park and I managed one every summer while I was single. 

I remember the solitude of the later night very well and in fact, I have never given that up.  I am now married nearly 30 years and the chitlins are long grown and raising their own fams , yet I still love my solitude and probably will always.  My alone time to write, read, watch TV, nap, play games, browse the internet, knit or even just sit outside and enjoy.

The most perfect solitude for me, sitting by the pool with a nearby umbrella just inhaling summer in Michigan. I try to fill my body with summer heat, sun and green plush grass so that I won’t be too horrid in the winter white of the usual Michigan winter.  It never really works, I miss summer the very first moment I feel fall in the air.  But my solitude is still mine and still very precious.

Jo