Summer is going, going...

Summer seems to disappear more quickly when you get older. It seems like such a short time ago that we were anticipating the coming warm weather. It doesn't seem long ago that we were walking around in snow and ice-covered streets and longing for those warm days of June and July.

In the forest the other day I could see squirrels actively working at getting ready for the cold weather. New birds are arriving for the cold season and summer ones are leaving for warmer weather in the south.

In our modern world, you know winter is just around the corner when Sears starts distributing their Christmas catalogue. I remember spending afternoons with my younger brothers admiring and dreaming about all the Christmas toys in the thick full colour catalogue. I recall thinking it strange at the time that we were wishing for Christmas when it was only September. Now the catalogue comes in August. By the time December rolled around, the catalogue had lost several pages and was ready for the rubbish bin.

A sure sign that summer is just about finished is when everyone is talking about starting school again. I had mixed feelings about school when I was young. School was a refuge for me. It was a place of organized learning and I considered it a break from the chaos of living in a small community. However, I think children are all the same in thinking that the start of school, no matter what the circumstances, means the end of having fun in the sun. I looked forward to school but I wished I could still be free and on the loose enjoying the last warm sunny days.

How is it that summers now are going by so fast? I remember being a young boy and feeling like summer just went on forever. There never seemed to be an end to the playing and fun I had with my friends. There were very few organized events or places for us to go to play. There were no open gymnasiums, recreation centres or supervised games that we could take part in. However, I think it is hard to keep an excitable youngster down with nothing to do. Most of the time I recall being with my friends on bicycles.

I started late on the bicycle and did not learn how to ride until I was about seven. This was considered late compared to others my age at the time. I spent the first few years running as fast as I could to keep up to my friends on their bikes. When I did learn I became part of a riding gang of a dozen young boys. We explored the town and rode as far as we could travel into the woods. We learned to trudge our bicycles through sticky clay, wet mud, rocky shorelines, rapids and overgrown brush. We challenged each other on death-defying declines on the banks to see who could ride the steepest ravines without falling. The strongest were considered the ones who could go down and come back up on their own power. At high tide we parked our bikes by the water to enjoy a secret swim without our parents knowing. At mid-tide, we peddled down hill on the rocky access ways leading to the water to splash our way into shallow water and come up the other end on a dry embankment. When the water receded at low tide we crossed the river channels to make it to the sand bar where we played on a small beach that locals used for swimming.

Summer meant a lot back then. There were no worries and no responsibilities. The only thing that was expected of us was to go out into the community and come home for meals and to sleep. Whenever we strayed too far or too long, we were ordered home to play in our yard under the watchful eyes of our parents.

There are many sensations and memories that remind me of summer. In the early mornings, the sun shone through our small picture window and lit up our cluttered, six-bed room. The strong rays brought us all into the morning. Mom or dad always put on a pot of tea, no matter how hot the weather was during the day. As soon as we finished a quick breakfast we were off on our own for all kinds of adventures. When fishing was good in the community, we could always count on a mom for a fish fry in the evenings. We contended with mosquitoes and every type of biting insect from the tiny no-see-ums to the large black flies. On hot summer days, the whole family would pack up for a picnic in the woods, where we would enjoy the warm weather and swimming in the river and we gathered around an open campfire for roasted goose, bannock and hot tea.

Now that I am 30 years of age, summers seem to move along much faster. Just as soon as I think I am catching up to some quality time, the days seem to disappear in front of me. It is like sand slipping through my fingers. There is something very precious about that. Summer is going.  

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