August and the stretch run

As the calendar turns to August, thoughts of summer start to wane. It still is summer, of course, but as the days start getting shorter the inevitability of returning to those other, non-summery seasons starts creeping in. Summer is my favorite time of the year, and I’d have a hard time relating very well to

The Summer of Crocs

All good things must come to an end

The last day of summer doesn’t officially come for a while, but school starts up on Monday so today, for all inyents and purposes, was the last day of summer around here. But what a summer it was! Sleep away camps and day camps and traveling and movies and fireworks and rock and roll and

On the eve of vacation

The summer vay-cay is around the corner, and I won’t be putting a thing into this space until it’s over. It’s been a great summer so far, and I’m looking forward to closing it out with a flourish. The picture above is from a summer trip two years ago, in the Black Hills of South

This is Summertime

There’s been an amazing run of nice days this summer. The sun comes out, but it doesn’t get hot or uncomfortable. I’ll take this for as long as nature wants to keep serving it up. The picture above was taken in my parents’ backyard a couple of weekends ago. It’s a lot of space, with

A summer day, at last

On this Friday before Memorial day, I had a beautiful (if just a bit chilly) day, in a lovely natural surrounding with a book about appreciating life, co-authored by one man who died of cancer at age 47, and another who died in a car accident at 53. I’m not yet to either of their ages,

Listening to the birds chirp

The sights and sounds of nature are a wonderful thing, especially on a Friday afternoon with Memorial Day and Summer itself beckoning. I doubt anyone needed to be reminded of this, either.

Springtime in Chicago

I often tell people that the 6 weeks or so of nice weather that we have here in Chicago make the other 46 weeks seem worthwhile. I don’t really believe that, but I keep on saying it anyway. It looks as if we’re starting those six great weeks now. Better go enjoy it while I

What happens after these are gone?

I have some of these flowers in my back yard, and they usually bloom sometime around late August or early September. They’re called Garden Phlox, and it’s a sign, usually, that summer is winding down. But when summer starts on St. Patrick’s Day, like it did this year, the flowers all got moved up by