Making Hay While the Sun Shines...
Even though we still have a few weeks before the official change in season, there's something about August that makes many of us feel like our summer days our numbered. There can be a little voice in our head that tells us to enjoy each moment while it lasts - soon, it will be back to school.
Perhaps this is one of the times of the year when we most notice the blue sky during the day and the feeling of still-warm air in the evening.
A lot of us get a boost of creative inspiration during the summer. The warm weather lures us outdoors, where we observe and connect with nature and outer space. It's a time for spreading out a blanket or towel onto the grass or sand and being quiet. There's the familiar sound of cicadas, bumblebees and crickets. There's the smell of herbs growing in the heat of the sun.
Being outside also means many simple pleasures: walking, cycling, frisbee, reading, and eating juicy watermelon that dribbles onto our arms and legs. This is the time of pool parties, barbecues and walks along the boardwalk or the Port Dalhousie pier. Drives through Niagara reveal row upon row of ripening fruit in its many orchards.
Those of us with screen or scroll fatigue use our last precious weeks of summer to squeeze in that novel we've been wanting to read for ages. There's something about flipping paper pages in natural light that's so soothing. We may draw or paint in the garden or at the beach or park while the bright, cheerful colours of plants, waterworks, children playing, and kites are there to inspire us.
Although I enjoy reading poetry throughout the year, there's a special pleasure to reading it outside in the summertime. After all, so much of what delights us outdoors are the same muses that propelled poets of times past to put their pen to paper.
What are the summertime activities that you want to get in this month, while the days are long and bright, the weather warm and plants are growing all around us? At the shop, we've been talking to people pursuing their artistic projects, entertaining on a large scale, and those snapping up napkins for simple gatherings, like local picnics.
Soak it up, we say! Enjoy the sun this week and as many summer pleasures as you can muster. Next week you may hear bells calling you to class as we revisit the back-to-school season.
