Re-Setting My Summer Writing Goals
It’s time to inject some adrenaline into this lazy summer
July is almost upon us, and historically this has been the part of summer when I become lethargic and begin to mourn the inevitable end of summer. 36 years of teaching is what did this to me. Summer after summer, I knew my vacation would come to a halt as August faded and the “Back to School” sales began in all the stores. If you are a teacher or have ever taught, you know exactly what I am talking about.
It’s funny, but I feel that same lethargy and mournfulness creeping in even though my teaching days are behind me. It’s like an old computer program running in my head, a useless set of commands that are no longer useful. The rational side of me knows there is no reason to view summer this way any longer, but old habits die hard.
The trick is how to keep the freshness of summer alive as July arrives and we cross the apex of summer into the downhill slide toward autumn. On our farm, the crops slowly begin to mature. Already the strawberries have yielded their first crop, small zucchini squash has appeared beneath its large green leaves, and peas and beans are climbing up their trellises. Our corn will be knee-high by the 4th of July, the yardstick everyone here uses if they grow corn.
