Quotes from the Classics: July
Fireworks and watermelon and pool parties…oh, my! Summer is here and in full sweltering effect if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere! My family and I usually find ourselves near the Lake-Oceans of Michigan or Wisconsin around the 4th of July, basking in the majesty and splendor of what seems to be a well-kept secret outside the Midwest. Visiting has become a a bit of an accidental tradition, in that somehow, year after year and without plan, we end up running down sand dunes, munching fresh farmer’s market cherries, delighting in monarch butterflies, roasting marshmallows over blazing bonfires, stargazing, or watching sunsets and moonrises over the water. I’m a July baby and these visits, full of fireworks and festive displays celebrating our country, have become a sort of unofficial birthday party for me too.
Fireworks and watermelon and pool parties…oh, my! Summer is here and in full sweltering effect if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere! My family and I usually find ourselves near the Lake-Oceans of Michigan or Wisconsin around the 4th of July, basking in the majesty and splendor of what seems to be a well-kept secret outside the Midwest. Visiting has become a bit of an accidental tradition, in that somehow, year after year and without plan, we end up running down sand dunes, munching fresh farmer’s market cherries, delighting in monarch butterflies, roasting marshmallows over blazing bonfires, stargazing, or watching sunsets and moonrises over the water. I’m a July baby and these visits, full of fireworks and festive displays celebrating our country, have become a sort of unofficial birthday party for me too.
Sparklers by Zoritsa Valova
This year, my kiddos and I spent hours rock-hunting in the dark along Pier Cove Beach in Fennville, MI. We wanted a yooperlite - perfectly ordinary looking rock by day, fire-breathing space stone by night. Okay, it’s not really from space and it doesn’t breathe fire, but it does glow brilliantly under UV at night. We learned about them during a camping trip a year or so ago. A fellow camper pulled out a black light, shined it over an unassuming gray rock, and wowed us all. This was our chance to claim a coveted luminous stone of our own!
We searched and searched for treasure, but did not find any yooperlites. We were not exactly disappointed - at least no more so than we would have been, had we been thwarted only to come back again the next day. We sensed this would not be our last exploration. But more importantly, we were carrying the real treasure with us and we seemed to know it. It was tucked among the heart shaped rocks, beautiful little pebbles, and 55-million year old lightning stones we did collect. The treasure was the magic of a search and not a find. It was the stories we had weaved and intermingled with the stories of ancient rocks, formed by fire and ice. It was the midsummer memories of connection and contentment, memories soaked in the Spirit of July.
For more summer vibes, check out the classic quotes below:
“There is no duty we so much underrated as the duty of being happy.”
“It is eternity now. I am in the midst of it. It is about me in the sunshine; I am in it, as a butterfly in the light-laden air.”
“Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the tree house; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill.”
“Overhead hung a summer sky furrowed with the rush of rockets; and from the east a late moon, pushing up beyond the lofty bend of the coast, sent across the bay a shaft of brightness which paled to ashes in the red glitter of the illuminated boats.”
“I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer – its dust and lowering skies.”
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink in the wild air’s salubrity.”
“Lift every voice and sing,
’Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.”
Love in all things,
April Eileen