A Word In Edgewise: An Ode To Summer

As I begin to pen my Ode to Summer, snow is pelting down, gray skies monochroming my world. Summer seems a distant dream. Summer… I reminisce–seasons of sun, relaxation, and travel. And Heat. Lots and lots of Heat these days, from Sol above and Humanity in droves below, roller bags clattering over quaint, cobbled roadways…

I stop short of calculating the sum it took to be There last trip. I use a generic “There,” to not cast plagues on houses, nor criticize others’ climates, but to consider the geometric escalation in throngs and costs since my first teen travels in 1959. (I see you, rolling your eyes, muttering, “Since Wilbur and Orville”…) But, as Lili von Shtüpp attested, “Oh, it’s twue!”

Today, catching glimpses of the Rijksmuseum’s vast “Night Watch” through a thicket of raised iPhones on the crowd’s edge, Rembrandt’s mural–on which he originally painted every member of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq’s Civic Guardsmen (and their dog), that masterpiece dwindles to the size of da Vinici’s modest portrait La Gioconda, currently down south in the Louvre. In full disclosure, I haven’t visited that lady for several decades, but I’ll wager viewing from the edge of her iPhone-wielding throng, she’d yield the eye-acreage of a smiling Forever postage stamp.

What with Covid’s interruption and the passage of time and circumstances, I’ve not ventured far afield for a while–nor will I this summer. I’ve decided I’ll have a try at what I’ve heard called, “Getting in shape.” Being three-dimensional, I do have a shape, but current (unasked) opinions bandy about, “Tapioca,” “Mousse,” “Crème Brulée,” and “Flan.” No; no longer. I aim to lap “Snack Pack” to achieve… Well, I haven’t the precise word, but something adjectivally suggesting more “Power” than “Pudding.”

To that end, I’ve joined a nearby wellness center, closer than “There,” more compatible with my age and insurance. There are exercise rooms where lurking mechanical adversaries await, but there are also Lap and Therapy pools where one may swim, walk, sit in a whirlpool, or, under medical care, receive water therapy.

For the same Covid reasons (plus more) I’d not been in a pool for years, but I found, like riding a bicycle, one doesn’t forget staying afloat. A splash, a thrash, and I was gliding along, liquid warmth calming even the recalcitrant left knee.

The pool-length window reminded me as I glided alongside, of Dr. Qing Li’s Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness and I realized out there was a stand of trees under an open sky, the view and the water melding together. What had begun as exercise morphed into a soothing experience summoning thoughts of change. How those trees would soon leaf out, how I might also change as Nature cycled beyond the window. I vowed to return, soon, but Nature had other plans. Snows came. And came again.

One must make allowances at home as with travel. What summer plans have you? Far-flung, or closer to home? If what you desire isn’t doable–health, finances, world/climate unrest–how close a match can you find in this land of 10,000 lakes, parks, paths and hills? Your own back yard? Can’t shoot the Taj this year? Go Macro–see how many different butterflies visit your yard, what creatures patrol at night? Adventure–and Nature–encircle you; just look.