June Is Not Quite Bustin' Out All Over

Even if you’re not a Rodgers and Hammerstein fan, even if you’re not a musical theatre fan at all, you probably know (or at least, have heard) the song, “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” from the musical Carousel.

The clip above shows what you expect to see in June in New England: bright sunshine, people in shirtsleeves, a light breeze, happiness all around. Even in real life, June is a time of year when you can actually imagine a bunch of people randomly breaking into song and dance for no particular reason. The lyric at about 2:10 sums up our expectations of the spring into summer transition here in New England: “March went out like a lion, a-whippin’ up the water in the bay. Then April cried and stepped aside, and along come pretty little May. May was full of promises, but she didn’t keep ‘em quick enough for some, and a crowd of doubtin’ Thomases was predictin’ that the summer’d never come. But it’s comin’, by gum! You can feel it come! You can feel it in your heart, you can see it in the ground, you can hear it in the trees, you can smell it in the breeze. Look around! Look around! Look around!” And then of course, it goes into the best-known line from the well-known chorus, and the very title of the song itself: “June is bustin’ out all over!”

But June hasn’t quite busted out anywhere around these parts yet. Today is a rather April-ish June, with cold temperatures, cloudy skies, and dreary rain. Instead of short sleeves and sandals, we’re all donning our rain slickers and galoshes. We’ve traded in our iced coffees for steaming mugs of joe. We’re pushing the “heated seats” button in our cars instead of the “A/C” button. The colorful flowers in the garden are sagging under the heavy rain and looking like they’d like to bust right back into the ground.

And yet, with the silence of the air conditioner that ISN’T running in my window, I can hear a whole flock of determined birds happily chirping outside. When I peek through the rain-streaked window, I can see my little neighborhood bunny happily nibbling on the damp grass, looking not the slightest bit deterred by the weather.

Maybe it’s because they don’t have calendars so they don’t quite realize that today is the first day of June. After all, last week was full of gorgeous warm days, days when I admired how quickly my impatiens had started to spread, noticing that our grass had thickened up and was ready to be mowed, happy at how much the ivy and the grapevine on the fence and spread and created a pretty green privacy hedge by the pool. If I wasn't expecting a beautiful day today merely by virtue of the fact that it's June first, I wouldn't be disappointed, either.

But maybe they just remember that the cool, damp, dreary weather makes us all, plants and animals and humans alike, appreciate the warm, dry, sunny weather ahead all the more. So I’ll try to hang in there for another few days, and I’ll keep hoping that before I know it, June really WILL be bustin’ out all over!!

The Best-Laid Plans

Before summer started, I had all kinds of fabulous ideas of what I was going to do with my kids this summer. We were going to have a weekly library day, a reading time every afternoon, writing practice with sidewalk chalk after lunch, have the kids help me make dinner a couple of times a week. We would do scavenger hunt walks now and then. We’d go to the splash park with friends at least once a week. I’d have written up a whole year’s worth of kindergarten lesson plans for the coming fall. I’d post in my blog at least every other day. And both my kids would be completely potty-trained by the end of the summer.

Ha. 

Today is July 21^st. We’re pretty much at the midpoint of summer. I should be well into this list by now, but…not so much. We have yet to go to the library, only one child has deigned to play with sidewalk chalk and it was mainly for scribbling on her own body, the closest I’ve come to help with dinner is my son making his own peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich once. We have been to the splash park twice, I’ve pinned a bunch of homeschooling stuff on Pinterest, and I’ve blogged at least every other week. Potty training is…let’s just go with “stalled.”

But much like any other to-do list, sometimes you add the stuff you weren’t planning on doing but did just so you can cross it off. And there were plenty of things I didn’t really plan for but that I did.

We took the kids to Storyland for the first time, and spent the entire day riding rides, eating treats, climbing on stuff, and just generally having fun together.

We’ve spent enough time in our swimming pool that my son can now swim safely without his “floaties” on. And both kids fearlessly jump and dive and splash in the pool.

We’ve spent time at the grocery store talking about different fruits and where they come from.

My son and I had a great discussion about why it’s not healthy to smoke cigarettes, inspired by being stuck in traffic behind a guy sticking his arm out of his car window with a cigarette clenched between his fingers.

We’ve achieved a few minor victories in the potty training wars. And I, personally, have learned to stress less over our slow progress and rejoice in those small victories. (I’ve also learned to love OxyClean like I love life itself.)

We’ve gone out to dinner and received compliments from servers and fellow diners alike on how well-behaved our children are.

(I did say “well-behaved,” not “neat.”)

So who cares if I haven’t gotten to everything on my list yet? I’d say that the stuff I did is just as important as the stuff I didn’t do. Besides, I still have half the summer left to do the rest. Or at least, to add a bunch of other good stuff that I hadn’t planned on doing. 

Ducks, Docks, Donuts, and Dirt

One of the highlights of every summer since I’ve been married is time spent at my in-laws’ house on Cape Cod. It’s a good-sized house, so our visits are often shared with grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and often other family or even unrelated friends who’ve become family. So this past Thursday afternoon, we threw a bunch of stuff into the minivan and headed down the Cape.

To elaborate on that last sentence, I really do mean “threw a bunch of stuff” very literally. In the past, we’ve had to minimize and calculate to make sure we can fit everything we actually need into the trunk of a sedan. There were always tradeoffs: Do we really need to bring the full-sized stroller? Can we manage with the small umbrella stroller? Do we need the highchair or can we take turns feeding the baby on our laps? How many diapers do we need to bring for three days? Can I manage three days in the same pair of shorts without grossing everyone out? And of course, these questions were often asked as we stared into the full trunk in frustration, with 20 “needed” items still sitting forlornly in the driveway. But with a minivan, we literally tossed anything inside that we could possibly want, never mind need. It was great! Unfortunately, the drawback to this laissez-faire method of packing was a lack of organization that resulted in our leaving behind my husband’s backpack, which included all his toiletries and clothes (fortunately I had packed his swimsuit in a separate bag, so all was not lost). But it was the Cape, and it was vacation, so we rolled with it.

My son Ryan had first experienced the Cape House last summer as a 7-month-old. His enjoyment of it back then was pretty limited to sitting inside a giant inner tube on the lawn and being crowed over by dozens of adoring relatives at the annual family summer party. He was non-mobile enough at the time that it was easy to plop him somewhere with something interesting to watch and just sit back and relax myself. Ha! Not so this year. As soon as we brought him inside, my now VERY mobile 20-month-old was off and running around the house exploring every nook and cranny. He carefully pointed out each clock, turned every lamp on and off, and strained to reach every wall switch. He threw all the throw pillows on the floor, peeked in every cabinet, and attempted to fall off the porch into the bushes.

And then, he found the beach. (One of my favorite features of the house is that it’s right on a good-sized pond so the porch affords a lovely view of passing kayaks, sailboats, and various wildlife, not to mention a small private beach.) But even better than simply the beach, he found the ducks. A mother duck with 8 adorable, fluffy babies swam by to beg for handouts. Cousin Troy grabbed the sleeve of stale crackers which was waiting for their arrival and rushed down to the beach with Ryan eagerly following. Enthusiastic but not completely clear on the concept, Ryan imitated Troy throwing bits of cracker to the ducks by throwing handfuls of sand to them. Fortunately, the ducklings weren’t overly clear on the concept either and just as enthusiastically swam over to explore the splashes where the sand had landed in the water. Ryan turned to me several times and pointed at them, excitedly announcing, “Ducks!!” I was just thrilled that he made the connection between actual ducks and the animated and cartoon versions he’s seen on Curious George and in books.

When the ducks had had their fill and gone on their merry way, Ryan took advantage of being near the water and splashed a few inches into the pond (he would happily have plunged right in if it weren’t for his stick-in-the-mud mother who insisted he put on a swimsuit before that particular exploration). He was curious about the feeling of wet sand between his toes, and found a big flat stick to dig in the wet sand with. After a few barely-thwarted attempts to squat in the water to play, I hauled him back to the house to get him into his swimsuit.

Daddy gladly took over at that point (Ryan was not the only one eager to go play in the pond), and soon they were both suited up and ready to dig in the dirt and swim. One of the many items tossed haphazardly into the minivan had been a set of sand toys, and Ryan happily explored the bag of goodies. Buckets and shovels and molds, oh my!

He also enjoyed floating in the pond with some assistance from Troy.

And of course, a few swim lessons from Daddy:

The next morning we took a drive to pick up the morning paper, and on the way stopped by the docks to admire the boats. Ryan was as impressed by the real boats as he is by his toy boats, and happily waved to the various captains and passengers with an enthusiastic (and loud) “Hi!!!” to them followed by the announcement, “Boat!!” to everyone on shore who might not have noticed.

On our way back to the house, we stopped one more time for coffee and donuts – a special treat that Ryan rarely gets. He deigned to share a chunk of glazed donut and a bite or two of chocolate glazed while he watched Mary Poppins in the DVD player, his eyes glazing over as it approached nap time. I figured that he would settle right down in his crib for a nap when we got back, but I don’t know WHAT I was thinking. There’s no napping on vacation! As soon as we were back at the house, he insisted on running around again, stealing beanbags from Uncle Jim’s game, being chased by ever-patient cousin Kayla, climbing on the picnic table to see what Pappy was doing, and giggling while racing past Aunt Holly’s and Bammy’s legs. He didn’t want to miss out on a moment of fun at the Cape house!

But one of the highlights of our visit, to me, was our outing to a Falmouth Town Band concert. The town has a lovely bandstand with a great stretch of lawn that plays host to band concerts every Thursday night. Families set up lawn chairs and spread out blankets, others sit in their cars and honk appreciatively after favorite numbers. Herb and Ryan and I merely plopped on the grass and sat back to enjoy the fun. Ryan was tired enough that he was content to sit in my lap and sway along with the marches, his eyes wide as he took in the rows of shiny brasses and watched the cymbals and timpani clashing and crashing. At one point he did get up to chase another small boy next to us who was running in circles, as small boys do. It reminded me of the many other summer concerts I’ve been to throughout my life, both as a performer and as an audience member. I suspect that you could go back in time a hundred years and, other than the clothes and cars, see exactly the same scene. Families relaxing, children running about chasing fireflies or each other, people clapping in time to familiar marches, happily ignoring the occasional missed note or muffed entrance.

Families relaxing and having fun together: that’s what summer vacations are all about. That, and ducks, docks, donuts and dirt.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Summer rain can be a lovely thing. A warm evening shower after a hot humid day can be soothing and relaxing. The sound of soft rainfall can be pleasant to drift off to sleep by. Splashing through a puddle or two can bring back happy memories of childhood.

But this morning, I’m sick of it.

It’s August. Yes, it’s late August, but it’s still August, and in my mind that means that summer should still be in full swing. I should be swimming in the pool every day, going for walks in the sunshine, wearing shorts every day, and needing to water my garden. But instead, for the past few days I’ve been wearing jeans and sweatshirts, avoiding having to run errands, and gazing sadly at the pool cover full of puddles and fallen leaves. It’s dark and it’s dreary and I want my summer back. I’m not ready to be done yet!

The funny thing is that I love the fall, too. I love watching the leaves change colors, I love the crisp earthy smell, I love the cooler weather, I love seeing the kids at the bus stop with their backpacks and their excited back-to-school faces. But I’m just not quite ready for it yet. I need a few more cookouts, a few more poolside dinners, even a few more humid sleepless nights of turning the pillow over and over looking for the cool side. I want to hang on to the smell of suntan lotion and bug spray. I want to hear one more late-night party on the neighbors’ porch. I want the feeling of beach sand between my toes one more time.

Fall, with its rain and drear as well as its sights and smells, is welcome to come. But not until I’m ready for it. And I’m just not ready for it yet. So rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. September 30th or so should be just about right.