summer.
it's hot. As I drive down the sleepy streets of my sunbaked mountain town, my arms reach out of my open window to try and catch a bit of the cooler breeze outside. I pass houses with screen doors propped open to tempt the breeze and an elderly couple sitting under the canopy of their porch in front of a wall fan. A pitcher of sweet ice tea gathers condensation on the table.
It is July. and Summer is in full swing.
I just ran outside to roll up the windows of my car because the afternoon shower has begun to fall, in large drops hurling to the ground. They hit the top of my head and drip down the freckles on my arms. The heat from the dirt radiates upwards and I can feel thte tempiture begin to change in seven different parts of my body; as the rain melts down and the heat up, and my naked legs so bare in the middle of this thermostat. The rain was pounding down on the tin roof when I began this sentence, but now I can only hear it in the gentle trickle in the gutters and the sweet pitter patter on the widows now.
Welcome to summer in the mountains.
I tilt my head back as sweat drips down my neck and my border collie whines plantively from the back seat, dust gathers in my rear view mirror and my mind jumps ahead to my destination. The canal is deep, wide, quiet and green, momentum running in the shade of apricot trees and blackberry brambles. The water is cool on my skin as I dip my toes and then the rest of my heat soaked body into the water, my dog whining and then leaping in, splashing and swimming in her glee. The water is cool and thick and steady; I flip over onto my back and float, letting the water support me, letting go of the troubles that haunt me, lazily watching the white puffy clouds against the back drop of that summer sky.
Summer is in full swing.
Last night we piled into my best friends truck and trundled down the highway 30 miles to the near by town of Delta, where we spread out a blanket on the hood of the car and passed around the home made pop corn as the sky turned into the dusky colors of evening.
The flickering light of the drive-in movie started as the first stars came out.
The wings of the bugs that fly through the stream of the projector are illuminated like fire flies in the darkness. Cars drive whizzing by on the other side of the train tracks leaving red ribbons and white lines on the edges of my eyes- half a world away.
On the way home, with the window down and the wind blowing on my face, my mind travels groggily to the future, to who I'll be when the leaves change to yellow and gold and the sky will darken with the heavy present of snow. I don't know yet, but there are still months in between that me and the one that watches the skyline fade to crimson and then black.
It is July. and Summer is in full swing.
I just ran outside to roll up the windows of my car because the afternoon shower has begun to fall, in large drops hurling to the ground. They hit the top of my head and drip down the freckles on my arms. The heat from the dirt radiates upwards and I can feel thte tempiture begin to change in seven different parts of my body; as the rain melts down and the heat up, and my naked legs so bare in the middle of this thermostat. The rain was pounding down on the tin roof when I began this sentence, but now I can only hear it in the gentle trickle in the gutters and the sweet pitter patter on the widows now.
Welcome to summer in the mountains.
I tilt my head back as sweat drips down my neck and my border collie whines plantively from the back seat, dust gathers in my rear view mirror and my mind jumps ahead to my destination. The canal is deep, wide, quiet and green, momentum running in the shade of apricot trees and blackberry brambles. The water is cool on my skin as I dip my toes and then the rest of my heat soaked body into the water, my dog whining and then leaping in, splashing and swimming in her glee. The water is cool and thick and steady; I flip over onto my back and float, letting the water support me, letting go of the troubles that haunt me, lazily watching the white puffy clouds against the back drop of that summer sky.
Summer is in full swing.
Last night we piled into my best friends truck and trundled down the highway 30 miles to the near by town of Delta, where we spread out a blanket on the hood of the car and passed around the home made pop corn as the sky turned into the dusky colors of evening.
The flickering light of the drive-in movie started as the first stars came out.
The wings of the bugs that fly through the stream of the projector are illuminated like fire flies in the darkness. Cars drive whizzing by on the other side of the train tracks leaving red ribbons and white lines on the edges of my eyes- half a world away.
On the way home, with the window down and the wind blowing on my face, my mind travels groggily to the future, to who I'll be when the leaves change to yellow and gold and the sky will darken with the heavy present of snow. I don't know yet, but there are still months in between that me and the one that watches the skyline fade to crimson and then black.
