The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.


Summertime

by Jim Clayton - The Quill

"In the summertime when all the trees and leaves are green," sang Roger Miller in the 1964 song, In the Summertime. 

There are many things that we associate with summer, Father's Day, the U.S. Open (golf), vacations, camping, swimming, mowing and cooking out just to name a few.

We can see the crops growing in the fields, and wish it were cooler and take another sip of lemonade.

Summer is also the longest season with the longest days which is why it tends to be hotter. Many think it is hotter in the summer because we are closer to the sun, well that is not entirely correct.

We get more direct sunlight because of the tilt of the earth's axis and the rays are more intense. We are actually closest to the sun in January.

Kids get out of school and there are county and state fairs being held all over our area. On almost any given evening you can take a drive and smell someone grilling out or cutting grass. You can hear children playing and balls being hit with bats.

Most of us have at some point written the proverbial back-to-school essay What I did on Summer Vacation. As summer begins it may be a good time to decide what you would like in that essay and plan ahead instead of looking back.

There are many famous quotes about summer that help us put it into perspective.

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken."ÊJames Dent

"In winter I get up at night and dress by yellow candle-light. In summer quite the other way I have to go to bed by day." Robert Louis Stevenson

"Do what we can, summer will have its flies." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year - it brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul." Author Unknown

Regardless of what each one of us does in the summer it is time to get things done. We paint and patch and put on new roofs. We drive and travel and visit old friends. We regain our color and renew our vigor.

Summer is the time when we dare to leave the house and visit the outside world and realize we need to be out here more.

So, as we enter into this season begin to formulate what you would like your essay to say come fall.