One of the blessings of living here is that when a child is getting restless, television isn't your only option. You can say, simply, "Go outside and play." You probably won't even get an argument.
When my children were younger, they spent hours and hours in the meadow behind our house. They would head out with the dogs trailing behind them and be gone, sometimes, all day. The meadow is small by literal measurements. Just three or four acres up against a smaller woodlot that borders a small stream. But in their imagination, it was vast and it was their realm.
We don't mow the meadow until some time after the 4th of July, so there are wildflowers to be picked and my daughters would bring me endless bouquets of Indian paintbrushes, black-eyed Susans, and Queen Anne's lace. There are interesting creatures to be captured, if possible, and studied. Salamanders and toads and even the occasional snake. What can't be caught can still be observed with the fascination that is part of a child's makeup. My girls would report, breathlessly, on their sightings of groundhogs, rabbits, deer and foxes. That meadow, in summer, was their Wild Kingdom and there were no commercials.
They could pick, and eat, wild strawberries. Build forts in secret locations. Hang a tire swing from the low branches of a tree. There was no end, it seemed, to the things they could find to do, or make up to do, in the meadow.
Now and then, I would join them in some game or project. More often I would watch from the window or from a lawn chair that I would put someplace where I wouldn't be easily noticed. I had as much fun, and felt as free, as they did on those summer days.
They, of course, outgrew building forts and picking little bouquets of wildflowers for their mom. They moved on, but the meadow stuck around. The bark on the tree where they had carved their initials healed over but you can still see the scar. And the tire swing is still hanging from the low branch of the birch tree. And this summer, I can pass it along, like a family heirloom, to my daughter's two-year old. I always look forward to summer but I've never felt as excited as I do about this one. The meadow will be in glory and Brantley, the dogs, and I will spend hours and hours out there.
There is no limit to the fun we'll have, and fun, after all, is what summer is all about. We celebrate summer in these pages, as well, with the boys of summer who love nothing better than to go topless- with their cars, that is. Writers Sue Washburn and Betsy Shaw report on some of the summertime festivals that are held in the area-Old Home Days are celebrated with parades, floats and bands in towns throughout the area. And Middletown Spring's Solarfest is informative as well as fun for young and old alike.
We also take a look at a world champion Brittany (and his owner), how local garden clubs brighten everyone's life and Great Blue Herons... among other topics. So pour yourself a glass of lemonade and settle back in your own backyard with this, our summer issue.
Cheers
