Summer Afternoon–most beautiful words in English language
On the Turkish Aegean Coast in early June
As I was on vacation until a week or so ago (see picture! our boat! still pinching myself–it can’t be real!) June and July go together on our meander through the 1946 Farmer’s Almanac. It’s the summer effect—summer expands time into endlessness and compresses it into one beautiful afternoon. It’s best to go with the flow.
The June entry in the Almanac begins: “This is the month of young love and young leaves. Look for trouble on both. Get your sprays ready,” and ends with “Keep the weeds down now and from now on you’ll have clean sailing—maybe.”
I’m beginning to get to know this Almanac writer—it’s always glass half full/glass half empty with him. July if full of these switcheroos. He paints a beautiful scene, but can’t leave it alone without tossing in worries, proscriptions and reminders of disasters to be avoided. Here’s July:
“The old swimming hole and the beaches are grand places this month, but have a care. More mastoids, earaches and chronic sinuses are developed through diving (especially in fresh water) than in any other way. Water up the nose is more dangerous than water in the ears. …You’ve earned your vacation, so why ruin it by going after than tan in too much of a hurry? Keep your shirt on most of the time. As usual this month lots on non-essential brains will be addled in the noontime sun, but not the farmer’s. He doesn’t wear that kind of a hat because he’s a ‘hick’ but because he’s got work to do—in the sun. Why not give him a hand…?”
July ends with “Dried alfalfa, mullein, cornsilk and raspberry leaves are now in season and will insure you a hot time in the old pipe tonight. But you could do worse when it comes to rolling your own.”
And so it goes.
What’s your summer hold for you?
PS: title quote, by the way, from Henry James
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