Until the Last Cricket is Quiet

Since leaving the desert of the southwest, I've come to love summer as my favorite season.  Perhaps my body knows it was meant to endure the heat,  to relish in the sun's intensity on my skin and to know that I can get by on a camel's ration of water.  Here in Colorado summer comes late and leaves early but while she's here I take it all in and appreciate the 5:00 A.M. wake up call.  As autumn draws near every day I can't get enough of:

• falling asleep to the crickets' serenade
• the "caw" of that annoying black bird just before the sun comes up
• feeling the breeze swirl above my bed as it collides  in my room from two oppositely positioned open windows
• watching my little girl pick raspberries in her birthday suit out in the garden 
• slowly walking the farmer's market saying hi to people who've been hidden in their homes all winter long
• the smell and feel of fresh mowed grass
• flip flops!
• no makeup and wet hair
• the roar of a mountain creek crashing wildly down a mountain side
• leafy green Aspens
• music in the park 
• kids playing in the sand
• dogs swimming after ducks they never catch
• my dinner growing outside
• sharing my harvest
• sipping wine with good friends watching our children play
• sleeping under the stars

Even though summer isn't over, school has started and the carefree pace seems to have left with the school bell.  I'll keep my list handy until the last cricket is quiet.