Summer Circles
When I was little, summers were long and hot and leisurely. We were always left with chores that needed to be completed but 32 acres and 8 hours offers a lot in terms of having a summer vacation. Inevitably we would do all the fun things first and then try to scramble to get chores done. Or at least that's my version of the story. With 3 other siblings to corroborate, I'm sure you'll get a different kind of summer depending on who you talk to.
Let me tell you about my summer. Some days I would open a book and not get out of bed until it was finished. Other days Jessie and I would practice our songs. We were going to start our own singing group called U.S.S. (United Sisters Sing) and we had a wide-inch ruled spiral notebook that held our songs and jokes.
Some days were spent wandering the woods telling stories. We had old feed barrels from the barn that we tipped over and tried to roll and balance, racing each other across the back yard.
For a few years we would spend a week or two at my Aunt Jenny and Uncle Bob's place up in the Muskoka Lake region of Ontario.
Regardless of where we were, the theme of the summer was always time to think and play and relax. I guess I didn't realize what a luxury that was which is true of most things when you are young. I started working the summer I turned 12 and basically have never looked back. I babysat for 40 hours a week during the summer starting at 12. Restaurants, delis, more babysitting, and too many jobs to name have filled my summers. One of the perks of my profession is that we should have summers off but for me, that has not yet been a possibility. I have always had to have some kind of job to help make ends meet - and yes, I know this includes supporting my habit of moving too much.
Well, this summer things have come full circle. I am 9 days into break and I can tell you the summer off is just as sweet as I remember it. I won't brag too much because people I love don't have their summer off and it doesn't help to rub it in. But I can tell you, my wish for our society is to let everyone have a summer off - regardless of their job. I've laughed, cried, and, thankgod, I have read some books. In a couple of weeks my family with gather on a lake and splash around. Later the BF and I are venturing to Alaska. I know this could be my one and only summer off so I am soaking up every minute. However you are spending your summer, I hope you find time to do something that fills your soul.
And now, on to book #2. I finished My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman just a few hours ago. My mother insisted I read this and gave me her copy last time I was home. I didn't really get into Backman's other book so I wasn't sure I would like this but the premise interested me.
In this story, Elsa's Granny is a wild spirit and a force of life. She doesn't follow rules and she believes strongly that every child should have a superhero. She makes it her mission to be Elsa's. Whether it is distracting Elsa from her tormenters at school, helping Elsa sort through her parents' divorce, or coming to terms with the wackos living in their building, Granny is always there to save the day.
And then she dies. I'm not ruining anything here - it's right on the back of the book. I'll be honest, I wasn't impressed with what I thought I would be impressed with the most. Granny makes up a world of fairy tales that tiptoes on magical realism. I'm a sucker for fairy tales and magical realism so I figured this would be the hook that caught me. I found the fairy tales a little lacking and the magical realism too much. What I loved, what really did me in, was the ending. Obviously I can't tell you about it but it threw me off even though I saw it coming from a mile away. Backman tied together an invisible thread that was so beautifully woven throughout the story. These lines were the heart (no spoiler) of the story for me:
The problem is this whole issues of heroes at the ends of fairy tales and how they are supposed to "live happily to the end of their days." This gets tricky, from a narrative perspective, because the people who reach the end of their days must leave others who have to live out their days without them.
It is very, very difficult to be the one who has to stay behind and live without them.
I mean, good lord, that sums up about all the sorrow held in my own heart. I was a blubbering mess reading those lines. I've had to stay behind and live without far too many people in my young 36 years. Tragedy is tragic, knowhatimean?
Read it for sure and let me know what you think.
Let me tell you about my summer. Some days I would open a book and not get out of bed until it was finished. Other days Jessie and I would practice our songs. We were going to start our own singing group called U.S.S. (United Sisters Sing) and we had a wide-inch ruled spiral notebook that held our songs and jokes.
![]() |
Life on Nine Mile Lake |
![]() |
With mine and Jessie's bffs, also sisters, at the creek |
![]() |
Spittin' watermelon seeds with Grandpa McCullough |
Some days were spent wandering the woods telling stories. We had old feed barrels from the barn that we tipped over and tried to roll and balance, racing each other across the back yard.
For a few years we would spend a week or two at my Aunt Jenny and Uncle Bob's place up in the Muskoka Lake region of Ontario.
Regardless of where we were, the theme of the summer was always time to think and play and relax. I guess I didn't realize what a luxury that was which is true of most things when you are young. I started working the summer I turned 12 and basically have never looked back. I babysat for 40 hours a week during the summer starting at 12. Restaurants, delis, more babysitting, and too many jobs to name have filled my summers. One of the perks of my profession is that we should have summers off but for me, that has not yet been a possibility. I have always had to have some kind of job to help make ends meet - and yes, I know this includes supporting my habit of moving too much.
![]() |
other circles of my summer... cat circles |
![]() |
coffee circles |
![]() |
poached egg circles |
Well, this summer things have come full circle. I am 9 days into break and I can tell you the summer off is just as sweet as I remember it. I won't brag too much because people I love don't have their summer off and it doesn't help to rub it in. But I can tell you, my wish for our society is to let everyone have a summer off - regardless of their job. I've laughed, cried, and, thankgod, I have read some books. In a couple of weeks my family with gather on a lake and splash around. Later the BF and I are venturing to Alaska. I know this could be my one and only summer off so I am soaking up every minute. However you are spending your summer, I hope you find time to do something that fills your soul.
And now, on to book #2. I finished My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman just a few hours ago. My mother insisted I read this and gave me her copy last time I was home. I didn't really get into Backman's other book so I wasn't sure I would like this but the premise interested me.
![]() |
Read most of this book out on the back porch |
In this story, Elsa's Granny is a wild spirit and a force of life. She doesn't follow rules and she believes strongly that every child should have a superhero. She makes it her mission to be Elsa's. Whether it is distracting Elsa from her tormenters at school, helping Elsa sort through her parents' divorce, or coming to terms with the wackos living in their building, Granny is always there to save the day.
And then she dies. I'm not ruining anything here - it's right on the back of the book. I'll be honest, I wasn't impressed with what I thought I would be impressed with the most. Granny makes up a world of fairy tales that tiptoes on magical realism. I'm a sucker for fairy tales and magical realism so I figured this would be the hook that caught me. I found the fairy tales a little lacking and the magical realism too much. What I loved, what really did me in, was the ending. Obviously I can't tell you about it but it threw me off even though I saw it coming from a mile away. Backman tied together an invisible thread that was so beautifully woven throughout the story. These lines were the heart (no spoiler) of the story for me:
The problem is this whole issues of heroes at the ends of fairy tales and how they are supposed to "live happily to the end of their days." This gets tricky, from a narrative perspective, because the people who reach the end of their days must leave others who have to live out their days without them.
It is very, very difficult to be the one who has to stay behind and live without them.
I mean, good lord, that sums up about all the sorrow held in my own heart. I was a blubbering mess reading those lines. I've had to stay behind and live without far too many people in my young 36 years. Tragedy is tragic, knowhatimean?
Read it for sure and let me know what you think.
Comments
Post a Comment