Make the Blessings of Summer Happen

Here comes the season in which you can reinvent yourself. Longer days allowing for more activity; vacations, explorations, time to be a kid again. At the thought of summer, one can almost taste the watermelon and lemonade. It’s time to shake the cobwebs of boredom and throw yourself into fun experiences under the sunny blue sky as you walk or run barefoot on the grass stopping to pick wild chicory or devil’s paintbrushes along the way. 

I’m going to suggest two activities that will enrich your summer way beyond your expectations.

First, why not try the joy of amateur birdwatching? Get a pair of binoculars, a notebook and pen, and a paperback copy of a guide to bird identification. A backpack to carry these important items plus your water bottle is essential. If you plan to go into local park woods, you will want to wear long sleeves and jeans so as to ward off ticks and mosquitoes. But don’t let this dissuade you. Planting yourself on benches outside wooded areas is just as rewarding for neophytes. 

You will want to record in your notebook the birds you see and, if necessary, grab that cellphone and take pictures of some whose identity you want to look up later. Remember that noisy Blue Jay you saw all winter? Listen for his vocalizations. He is a skilled mimic taunting the Red-Shouldred Hawk and even the bellicose crow. The mockingbird, elusive for me, can master 200 sounds – even sirens, whistles, and the truck’s back – up beeps. Listen for him. Your backyard Ruby-throated Hummingbird weighs only 3 grams and can fly thousands of miles. His wings flap thousands of times per minute, in fact 80 beats per second, and he remembers every feeder he’s been to and even how long it takes for a certain flower to refill its nectar. So, take care of these lovely, smart visitors to your yard. They can be found also on the periphery of the local park woods as they usually do not venture into the woods. 

In Ohio only 421 species are recorded and only 40 have been seen once. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could identify a species only recorded once?

I am only an amateur birder content to enter their environment and try and identify them as they emerge into the season. Every summer I take my folding chair and backpack and select some good days when the weather is right and then take off to a section of our Metropark for a day of birding. I have been rewarded with hours of delightful sights of birds I never knew and singing I never heard. I realize this is because I never ‘looked’ before. Ed Yong, one of my favorite science writers, has written that “Birding has tripled the time I spend outdoors. It has pushed me to explore Oakland (his city) in ways I never would have: Amazing hot spots lurk within industrial areas, sewage treatment plants, and random residential parks. It has proved more meditative than meditation.” Yong sees birding as something that inspires him to look after himself, to see that he has a value to himself, his world, his community beyond ceaseless production and that pursuits like birding foster joy, wonder and connection to place-not sidebars to a fulfilled life but their essence. So, try birding in a simple but open-hearted way. You will never regret it.

Second, cuddle up with a good book on your porch or yard patio this summer. Get lost in a story, memoir, or non-fiction. Let the words swing in harmony with your hammock or rocker as you decipher meaning from them. I’ll take the risk of suggesting a very fine summer reading titled, Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. It’s easily obtained through your local library. Dalton has a professional job for a London company and lives parttime in an English countryside refurbished barn where on a January day she sees a baby hare – leverit – on her road vulnerable to traffic and predators. She nurses the leverit careful not to domesticate it as hares are happiest in the wild where she fully intends to return it when it is secure enough.

You will learn about the hare, not friendly at all with rabbits, who wants to answer the beckoning call of the wild. Dalton spices the story with research from Pliny to William Cowper to George Gascoigne to Leo Tolstoy. What I like about this book is that Dalton does not pretend to know much about the creature she is helping; she is constantly studying the species and its purpose in the universe. To this end, the leverit teaches Dalton about her own purpose in life as well. It is quite beautiful to think of a wild animal teaching a human being and the human teaching the animal what they both need at a time in their lives to simply do what God intended them to do.

Reflection   

You might also enjoy reading sections of the scriptures as you greet a summer’s day. Set a schedule for yourself to read and reflect on any section of the scripture you feel called to explore. This will touch your soul in some way; you can be sure of that and who doesn’t want that for a summer’s day? 

May all of you: my dear Readers and my Anonymous Angels find peace in the beauty of creation and in God’s invitation to listen to nature, read for growth and seek out truth in scriptures.