How quickly we forget...

Summer is finally here! We can be free and let loose. They may as well have called the sun a ball of flaming joy - Star Riches. Carefree day spent sitting in the shade, looking out over some sort of glistening water, sipping cool lemonade, feeling the breeze and listening to the birds.... and sneezing! and scratching and rubbing eyes and oh the agony! How quickly we forget the terrible things that can come along with summer.

Beautiful gardens full of flowers bring out the worst side(s) of people with allergies to hay and cotton and anything that MIGHT be floating in the breeze. And nothing is worse to a person with allergies than a person who doesn't have allergies. They just don't understand how completely miserable it makes a person. The outdoors have no appeal, the warm weather brings no joy, and the water is no longer refreshing.

Speaking of water... what nasty thing goes along with water during summer? Something come to mind? Does it give you tingles? Is it making you look over your shoulder in fear? Have your ears perked up, listening for and dreading that humming noise just at the thought or MOSQUITOES!?? Buzzing, sucking, ugly, itchy, burning, infuriating! Some summer nights I have been up until 2 in the morning, just hunting down mosquitoes in my room so that I can sleep in peace. I carry a tube of Bite Ointment (Phenergan... works GREAT) in my purse and apply it regularly.

Then there are burns and dehydration and sweat and all of that stuff. It's so easy to forget about those during the winter months when we'd give anything just for a bit of natural heat.

Now I'm not dissing summer. I still love it. I am more than happy (okay, maybe a little bit less than happy) to put up with all of those things just to enjoy everything good and perfect about summer.

Water, swimming, beaches, sand, ice cream, naps, sunshine, warmth, cool drinks, refreshing, bathing suits, tanning, late nights, gorgeous sunsets, fresh strawberries, juicy blackberries, sweet peaches, soft breezes, barbecues, campfires, s'mores, camping, tents, muisc, family, friends, Shuswap (hehe)...

How cunningly nature hides every wrinkle of her inconceivable antiquity under roses and violets and morning dew! - Ralph Waldo Emerson