THE SUMMER BLAHS . . .

The summer WHAT did you say?

I know, I know . . . it's Summertime! The livin' is easy! (Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong reminded me just the other day.)

Well, not quite Summer yet--another 12 days to go. But: the sun's out most days, rain isn't day-after-day now, humidity bops around between comfy and unbreathable. So why, you wonder, am I talking about Summer Blahs?

Here's why:

• school's out--I don't have the structure I had for nine months of the year.
• there aren't any kids my age in the neighborhood to play with
• a lot of regular activities are re-styled for the summer, so I don't have a dependable list to choose from

I'm not really stuck in childhood--but the summer season reminds me that there's a break in the year that signals a different way of living.

And that's not all--even with air conditioning helping my asthmatic breathing, I feel my energy being sucked out of my body every time I step outside. I don't have to step outside at all, if I don't want to. I can empty the mailbox while standing at the open front door. Amazon leaves my book orders near the door so I'm out less than ten seconds. But sometimes--

And gardening--? Not my thing at all! My daughter loves garden work (so do two of her sibs). Even filling bird feeders apparently comes under the heading of "Gardening--What to Do When," so all I'm required to do is drive to the feed-and-seed store, have the nice people there load up my SUV with mixed seed and black-oil sunflower seed bags, pay them, and drive home. As for the gardening itself--I'm perfecting my role as Encourager and Appreciator. 

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To battle the Summer Blahs, I have a short list of activities (which I can do alone or with help, and which are done indoors--no special equipment required) that keep me from going round the bend:

• painting--trying new techniques as demonstrated on YouTube tutorials
• sewing--finishing a quilt started several weeks ago
• writing--keeping my daily journal; working on a novella once a week during a dedicated time
• keeping records--every medical person I see wants me to keep track of something; if I thought I was going to live a lot longer, I'd buy a gross of spiral notebooks and the same amount of pens to keep going; or maybe I'd just invest in a paper company, if it paid good returns on my investment
• sorting stuff--a perennial activity--never a favorite--but sometimes it helps me get through summer days when everything else requires too much effort

I didn't list reading, and I'm sure you noticed that. I'm slowly getting back to reading--not sure yet why the interest waned--that's not like me, at all. I did request a book on the Evergreen service, read it and returned it; so, you see, I did read in this month of June. And am now re-visiting one of my old favorites, a mystery series set in the American 1930s.

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If you have any good ideas for beating Summer Blahs, I'll be glad to entertain them
--but remember, I don't like to travel, and crowds aren't my thing (right up there with gardening--see above). In the meantime, I'll have a cup of coffee, read a little about the USA in 1936, and contemplate the feeding frenzies of birds at my now-half-full feeders (replenished only a day or two ago).

Blessings for all,

Thursday's Child