My favorite sounds are the simple ones — an old porch swing’s slow creak, a robin’s busy chirp, a warm breeze’s whisper through tall grass, a ball’s crack against a metal bat, a friend’s deep belly laugh, a happy child’s splash into the pool, a wave’s steady lap against the sandy shore.
These are the songs of summer and all you need to hear them is an open window and a stretch of time.
I treated myself to both last night and turned an ordinary Thursday into a restful retreat.
Of course, I live in Appleton, where live music is a summer rite of passage, so I also wandered down to Houdini Plaza to hear a little Cool Waters Band with a couple hundred of my closest friends, and that was fun too.
As I walked home, I thought about how cheerful summer sounds — bikes whir, squirrels chatter, fountains splash, children laugh. strollers squeak, owls hoot, camp fires crackle, bees buzz, yogis namaste.
Next week summer officially begins with a solstice that gives us plenty of time to pop a cork and clink our glasses to a lovely June.
I like the sound of that.
