After Page One: Delight
A guest post to motivate, encourage, and inspire…
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A List of Summer Pleasures
Birds, who are rarely silent in Eagles Mere, waking me each morning.
The way the light comes in our window at dawn, soft and lacy from the leaves.
Noticing the lake’s mood first thing when I come downstairs.
Writing with a sharp pencil in my journal on the porch.
Grinding coffee in the evening, so the grinder doesn’t wake our son, who sleeps above the kitchen as I once did.
Plunging into the lake on a hot afternoon.
Cleaning out the lint basket of the ancient dryer and thinking about something I might write.
Hanging clothes on the line with clothespins. Still thinking.
Being in a canoe.
Sneaking to my desk to work on a piece.
Harvesting raspberries from the canes off the back steps.
Watching a storm move across the lake.
Noting my husband’s progress as he lights the corner cupboards in the dining room–then washing all the items that look dusty, once lit.
Doing jigsaw puzzles on the front porch with our friend, Kerro.
Sunflowers in tall vases.
Updating Duotrope.
Spotty cell phone coverage.
Hearing the satisfying thwack of tennis balls and the lighter tap of ping pong balls.
The laughter of children on the trampoline.
Expecting houseguests.
Picking up the mail at the Post Office.
Starting a new piece.
Reading my own book as my son reads his.
Savoring a word or phrase as I walk around the lake, pieces I’m working on tumbling in my head as I step and breathe and think.
The sound of rain on the roof and the smell of a storm.
Being the House Elf—this summer, the simplicity of keeping us fed and one step from squalor has not felt overwhelming.
Revising a piece I started in June.
Weather adages: “Mist before 7; clear by 11” and “Count the seconds between the lightning and the thunder to know how many miles away the storm is.”
Sunday church at 8:00 a.m. with my sister.
The new kitten’s antics, especially her ability to climb the sliding screen door.
Dogs who are happy to nap with me on a sultry afternoon when I fall asleep before I’ve even opened the novel I’m reading.
Reading that novel later on the porch-swing.
The changing sky.
Backgammon and Monopoly and card games.
Cooking with friends in the kitchen and letting someone else clean up.
Local corn, served as many nights as possible.
Sliced tomatoes with mozzarella and basil.
Strawberry rhubarb anything.
Eating in the dining room, lit by candlesticks Grannie brought back from her grand tour of Europe in 1908.
Editing a piece one more time before pressing SUBMIT.
Mint chocolate chip ice cream from the Sweet Shop.
Smores!
Lighting citronella candles each evening.
Admiring the twinkle lights Seth has strung across the front porch.
Stars in the late July sky
The moon.
Time to write.
Late bedtimes.
Reading to my son at night.
Memories of other summers, long past.
What else?
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