Summer Days

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Summer is flying by, which is fine with me. With its normal heat and humidity, it is my least favorite season. The days after daughter Lise went home were filled with walking and gardening. The shrubs at the front of the house were given a haircut, and the ground cover beside the garage was cut back. I finished the eight sides of the evergreen growth at the back and cleared out a periwinkle bed choked with weeds. I have one more bed to go. My goal is to have everything under control before daughter Kate comes for a week. Having complained about summer heat, I must say that it hasn’t been bad the past few weeks. Right now the nights are cool, and sunrise is held in check by thick fog. I can walk half a mile and get home before the sun shines on the weedy places. I have breakfast after gardening, usually before noon.

As I was walking, I told myself to keep my eyes sharp. Joyce is no longer here to point out wild turkeys near the woods and inch worms hanging in my path. With that, I spotted two deer near the blueberry bushes. I immediately stopped still and stared at them. They stared back for what seemed like a long time. As soon as my hand inched toward the phone, they flicked up their white tails and ran up the steep hill into the woods. A photo might last longer, but my memory is still bringing them into focus.

The sun was shining in full force as I ate breakfast on the porch. After making a quick cup of coffee, I went back outside to see buckets of rain pouring down. That evidently stopped the farmer neighbor and his helper from tapping all the fence posts that divide our property. A short while later, they were back. It’s always a good thing when his cows and horses can’t escape their pasture.

School starts in four days, marking the end of summer for children in this county. I can’t claim autumn yet, but that’s where my thoughts are.

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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26 thoughts on “Summer Days”

  4. Glad you’re getting caught up on your gardening. I got a few things done today. It felt a tiny bit cooler, but the humidity was still off the charts.

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  5. I’m envious you saw deer as you walked along. Summer is not my favorite season either – yes, it beats Winter as I am able to get out without fear of ice and snow, but I’m exasperated with the heat and humidity too. We have heat and humidity and storms the next three days and while it will be less humid beginning Monday, everywhere I go with be soggy from the storms. It’s like there is always some variable to make a long walk with the camera iffy.

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      1. That amazes me Anne! We have had some sightings in our city and we are far from rural and some people surmise that at night or very early in the morning the deer travel along the expressway, leaving one wooded area in search of another.

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          1. I go to Heritage Park all the time and saw someone posted a few days ago that they saw a deer and doe on the fringe of the park near the trees, so I was there yesterday and looked. They had “The Wall that Heals” traveling Vietnam Wall, so I went to see it. I saw it when it was here five years ago and wrote about it. So it was mid-80s and very humid, but I walked over to the forest afterward looking for those deer … nothing there and it could be since there were people milling around everywhere they were scared, so they would only be there at dawn (although this exhibit is open 24 hours a day until Sunday at 2:00 p.m.).

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  8. Sounds like you got a lot accomplished and before breakfast. I like to eat breakfast almost before I do much else. I am not a fan of the heat and humidity, but I do like the longer daylight hours. I confess that I have been using room air conditioners much of the summer, at the same time been ensconced in a hot kitchen for bread making. The busses will soon be rolling here too. I have often found that the weather almost automatically cools when school start, as if it were either a conspiracy or partnership, not sure which. But soon the air conditioners won’t be needed. Just air from outside. Blessings on your day, Michele

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      1. I am clueless as to whether things are new or not. I do not like seeing AI involved with any of the blogs. We all have our own stories to tell and don’t need to find computer generated ones! No, thanks. How long have you been doing this? Since 2014 for me.

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  12. Such a lovely glimpse into your summer days, Anne. I especially enjoyed the peaceful encounter with the deer sometimes the memories we carry are even more beautiful than the photos we capture. Wishing you many more cool mornings and happy moments in the garden! 🌿🦌

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  13. I am so ready for fall this year. The heat in July just wore me out! It has been cooler the last 10 days, which is good, because we are finally harvesting the garden so the canner needs to run several times a week.

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