Come to Summer

“Can I come to Summer too?”, asked my little granddaughter when I explained on the phone that I had gone somewhere where it was summer and not winter.

We’ve had a long shivery spring in New England, although the sky has been bright.  Coming home from a balmy place made the chill irritating.  I took my outfit cues from a re-read of Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca where Mr. and Mrs. de Winter returned to fabled Manderly during a windswept spring.  The new Mrs. de Winter, the unnamed one,  knew how to dress for cold salty air in wool berets and cozy fair isle sweaters.  But how I longed for summer…

Now it’s beginning to warm up and the temperatures are beginning to match the sky’s promising blue.  The trees are celery green and the lilacs are in bloom again.  The dandelions are back and so are the bees.  And I’ve had plenty of afternoons indoors to make plans.

Come summer, I will squeeze a rocking chair onto my tiny front porch for whiling away tepid afternoons

Come summer, I will not turn down one invitation to go to the shore

Come summer, I will swim every chance I get, and with the abandon I once had as a ten years old

Come summer, I will read from my new summer reading list, a compilation of books recommended by friends along with  old favorites

Come summer, I will let the farmer’s market dictate my supper

Come summer, I will walk to the town beach with my battered old folding chair and just sit and beathe

Come summer, I will finally cull my cookbooks at the kitchen table, after thumbing through each and every one, searching for that perfect potato salad recipe I once used

Come summer, I will have friends visit and sit under the expansive new umbrella on my patio and I will serve them delectable unhurried delights with cooling drinks

Come summer, I will finally take out the watery blue dress that billows in the breeze and reminds me of Hawaii’s serene aqua seas

Come summer, I will not miss the Strawberry Moon

Come summer, I will wear all my cool and dreamy nightgowns, light my yardsale candleabra and pretend to be my own Victorian heroine

Come summer, I will finally master my grandmother’s lovely iced tea (the secret is a drop of lemonade)

Come summer, I will stay for every last firework on July 4th

Come summer, I will sit on the wooden bench at the pier – the one with the view of the marina, the cove and the fish market, with plenty of  “scope for the imagination” as once said by Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables

Come summer, I will listen to my new summer playlist while I work at home and reminisce about golden summers past and the joys of this summer with grandchildren in tow

Come summer, I will have flowers on the table, hot pink painted toes, a vibrant lipstick, and finally make use of that new SPF handcream I found

Come summer, I will make the most of the season like no year before

Will you come to Summer too?