Summer light

The past weekend was a perfect summer weekend in this part of the country. It was warm and breezy but not hot, not humid and not hazy. The temperature hovered around or just under 80 degrees, with pleasantly cool evenings. I didn’t run the air conditioner at all. Three whole days in midsummer with pleasant weather is a rare joy, too rare unfortunately.

I spent as much time outside this weekend as was humanly possible, finding any excuse to walk a little further or take the dogs for another traipse through the forest. We saw deer and turkeys, squirrels and opossums, a ring-necked snake, largemouth and smallmouth bass, heard gray treefrogs and yellow-billed cuckoos. I pulled black raspberries from the bushes and ate them straight away, my fingers turning purple with their juicy goodness.

I saw almost everything there is to see here in summer. Everything there is to see except for fawns. Truly, I must be the only person around not have seen a fawn yet this season. My neighbor up the mountain claims to have seen four at once. It’s a mystery why I haven’t seen one, but there it is. Such is life.

The light in those early morning walks has a clarity that is unique to summer. Autumn’s light is golden, winter’s light is soft, spring’s bright and warm. Summer’s light gleams with a bold clarity that is surprisingly delicate in the early hours of the day.

The hot, hazy and humid weather has returned today, though won’t last but a day or so. And since today is a work day and my time outside is limited, anyway, the nuisance of the 3H’s also has limited impact. I’m still hoping to see a fawn, somewhere, before their spots disappear.