Tucking Summer Away

Time to tuck another summer away. Sunrise, sunset. To everything there is a season. And this is the season when Summer falls asleep. The long, laughing, lazy, crazy, hazy days at the beach, the nights full of soft lovers voices under the boardwalk…Saturdays in the park, itsy, bitsy, teeny, yellow polka dot bikinis, roller coasters, Italian ice cups, baseball, the sound of crickets, and lawn sprinklers…you can feel them all slipping away…into fall.

 Time to tuck away the fireworks, hang up the hammock, and take one more turn around the grass on the lawn tractor. And for my Lady Wonder Wench and me, time to wrap the cape around this Summer’s memories. The ones that started in March with Met’s Spring Training. We’re taking our end of the summer trip up to old Cape Cod this week. I love the ocean…when it’s gentle…or even when it gets a little frisky. I can hear it in my head, even in the winter. 

 But I think there’s going to be a problem on the beach this year. I am packing my old Speedo that I’ve worn ever since I was a competitive swimmer…in college…a long, long, long time ago. It still pretty much fits me. But my Lady Wonder Wench is also packing that Godawful thing she bought me that she calls, “Your new trunks,” and she’s wearing that…wife look. You know the one that says something along the lines of, “I had a nightmare last night that you and George Clooney were fighting over me, and you won.” I knew this was going to happen ever since last year. Last year, while I was striding down the beach in my Speedo, she didn’t want to walk with me, and I distinctly heard her tell her friend Carine, that I was making it obvious that all men are not created equal. I took that as a compliment. But…maybe not.

 I used to go walking in the sand like I owned the beach when I was a Coney Island life guard, a long, long, long time ago. Can’t do that since I had a knee replacement. It WAS a long time ago…when girls first started wearing bikinis. I wasn’t used to that. I sometimes walked down the beach for hours and never saw a girl’s face. Us Louie-Louie Generation guys have been around for a long time. So have our Louie-Louie ladies. And we like that. Most of the time. There’s a story about watching the seasons spin around together in the Bedtime Stories personal audio cd, and in the current podcast. It’s called “For The Long Run.”

 I like that I know exactly the place on my shoulder where her head rests at night. I like that I can recognize her perfume. I like that when she has a bad dream, I can make it go away by just holding her hand…she smiles in her sleep when I do that. I like that she feels safe with me…she has done me the honor of allowing me to protect her for a long time.

 “For The Long Run” is from the Bedtime Stories personal audio cd. If you like it, you can just keep the current podcast, or if you want a fresh copy, just download it from the Bedtime Stories icon on the home page.

 Dick’s Details Quiz. All answers are in the current podcast.

1-   Why was my friend Bob’s request for his vanity plate refused ?

2-   What’s the real reason homing pigeons can’t navigate with a magnet attached to their necks ?

3-   What keeps women in Ontario from going topless ?

Dick’s Details. They take your mind off your mind.

 To everything there is a season. Sunrise, sunset. My Lady Wonder Wench and I are New York Mets fans…for our sins. And our summer begins in late March, when we go to Florida to catch some Spring Training. I like that word…spring. I think they gave it that name so you could start listening for it in the middle of the night in March. Haven’t you ever listened carefully and heard little green stuff popping out of the snow ? That means Spring is coming.

 I know there’s a soggy, sweaty, stinky side to Summer. But Summer is my season. I love it. But it’s time. Sunrise, sunset. It’s time to tuck another summer away. To everything there is a season. My Lady Wonder Wench and I will be away for a couple of weeks. I’m not taking a computer, because a vacation is a vacation. So there won’t be a blog or podcast for a couple of weeks either. But I am taking my Speedo. Because I don’t care if my birthday suit needs some ironing. I look forward to walking in the sand in my trusty old Speedo all year long.

 I hate to tuck this summer away…but I’m pretty sure that if I listen closely enough next March…in the middle of the night when everything else is quiet…I’ll hear that little green stuff popping up.

 I know this Summer has to fall asleep. Because…sunrise, sunset… that’s the only way there can be another spring.

4 Responses to “Tucking Summer Away”

  1. Jeff Silver says:

    Have a great vacation. maybe your speedo has shrunk from so many washes over the years!! Say hi to the Cape. It’s been a few months since I was there last. Love the ocean!

  2. Jeff Silver says:

    You have to go to Nantucket in the fall one of these years. I was there in June for the first time and loved it. Deserted beaches, warm ocean water. Taking a car is expensive but worth it.

  3. Betsy says:

    D and WW – if you like art, there is an exhibit at the Harwich Historical Society of the paintings of Charles D. Cahoon, who was a well known artist on the Cape. It runs Thurs – Sat. afternoons until sometime in October, if you’re interested. He was the grandfather of a friend.

  4. aliasJean Fox says:

    looking forward to your safe return — speedo, nude tape, and all!