Reflections on a Summer's Evening

After Friday's rains, Saturday arrived, cool and beautiful. It was a perfect day for sitting in the backyard watching the hummingbirds, who are very active these days. Even when I don't see them, I can hear their chirps and tweets; they are never far away.

As evening arrived, my husband suggested we take a little bike/hike up to the gameland to enjoy the cooler weather. And so we did. Shortly after 7 p.m., we got on our bikes and rode up the hill. At the edge of a gameland parking lot, we tied our bikes together and hiked down into the gameland to check things out.

There was standing water in some places from the recent rains, and the sploosh of amphibians was EVERYwhere. It's been a wet summer, which is good for our froggy friends. (And don't forget to wear your waterproof shoes if you're going hiking.) The woods are green and lush; they seemed soft and green and fuzzy. I felt at home, as I always do in the woods.

I walked down to check out a beaver pond in the gamelands that I have photographed frequently, and discovered that the pond was covered in green pollen, which made swirling patterns on the surface. It usually only looks like this in springtime!

The cicada have started to sing at night now. Their song heralds the season of county fairs, the shortening of the days, and the coming of the end of summer. The mornings have been damp lately, full of dew. I've seen my first few big spider webs.

I am not a big fan of the high heat and humidity of July, but as we head into August, it makes me feel wistful as a child getting ready to go back to school: Did we get enough summer? Did we swim every chance we got? Did we have enough fun?

As we finished our walk and were on our way up and out, we heard a crashing in the bushes to the left, and then a young deer walked - alone - out of the woods and across our path. It dallied a bit, lingered on the path in front of us, and turned for one last look, as though to say good-bye before it disappeared into the woods on the other side.

And I remember how you loved me
Time was all we had until the day we said goodbye
I remember every moment of those endless summer nights

The soundtrack is Richard Marx, with Endless Summer Nights.