Photo courtesy Colin Campbell/Flickr
This weekend, the summer solstice is upon us. I still feel like I’m defrosting from our overly frigid winter, but in my garden, the first tomatoes have popped out to say hello, the spring greens are turning bitter and bees can be spotted frequenting my wildflowers. Before we know it, I’ll be knee-deep in the summer garden harvest and swimming my way through the hot and humid air of Kentucky summers.
Although it would take all ten fingers and toes to count the many reasons I love summer—fresh food outside my doorstep, bike rides through the country, splashing through a warm creek, et cetera—one of my favorites is the summer evening. When the hot sun slips under the horizon and the crickets begin their nighttime serenade, I suddenly get swept away with the romance of it all.
Friends will stop by and we’ll sip on mint mojitos under the shining moon, telling funny stories of our animals and children and dreaming about summer’s next big adventure. Maybe we’ll start a fire to roast marshmallows, and the caramel scent of singeing sugar will transport us back to the days where we ran barefoot through the grass, scooping up fireflies to do their twinkly dance for us in our mason jars.
Yup, I love summer evenings, when it’s warm enough to roll out the blankets and lay there in cropped jean shorts and an old tank top. When eating a dinner of watermelon slices is perfectly acceptable and the sweet smell of freshly mowed grass wafts through the air. The heat melts away the frantic busy-ness of the day-to-day grind, leaving us without a care.
Perhaps it’s the nostalgia of it all that makes the summer evening so special, but hopefully we can find time to set down our tools for an evening of splendor. What’s your idea of the perfect summer evening? Tell me in a comment below!
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