August days can be heavenly ~ August 15, 1996

David Heiller

This is the time of year we all yearned for back in February. Breezy August days. Low humidity. Temperature in the 70s. Big puffy clouds floating like ships across the sky.

The kind of day that puts a spring in everyone’s step, even when you’re working. Even when something goes wrong, when the printer doesn’t work right, when a customer is rude. It’s hard to get angry on days like these.

Life slows down this time of year at our house. I think we are trying to slow it down, to make it last, it is so good.

Our garden, our personal grocery store.

Like at supper-time. You can’t rush supper this time of year, especially when it comes from the garden. You go out and walk around the beds and decide what you want.

Potatoes, onions, beets, cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, chard, kohlrabi, lettuce. Raspberries for dessert. Having a big garden is like having a grocery store in your yard.

It’s always changing too. The peas are mostly done. The beans are just starting. Carrots and sweet corn are right around the corner. Squash and pumpkins are growing bigger every day.

And don’t forget the tomatoes. How would you like a B-L-T with a homegrown tomato for supper? Is your mouth watering? Come on, be honest. Life doesn’t get any better than that.

After supper, Cindy and I and a kid or two and the two dogs like to take a bike ride around the block. Each block is a mile long.

First we go north down a township road. It’s gravel, but our bikes ride over it smoothly. We seldom meet a car. It’s very peaceful. Talk comes easily, and silences are comfortable.

Then we turn east. The road splits between the empty buildings of an old farm stead. I wonder who used to live there? Someday I’ll find out.

On that same road, it goes past the sparkling farm of Henry and Dorothy Mikrot. It’s a farm that looks like it belongs on a calendar for the month of August. We like to slow down and take in all the flowers and gardens and neat buildings as we pedal past.

Then it’s south a mile to County Road 46, where we stop by a creek that runs under the road. The dogs like to wade into it and take big gulps of water. They catch their breath there.

Then it’s back home on the blacktop, which seems like a treat after three miles of gravel.

Evening bike rides in August, with the sun setting and the air cool, just can’t get any better. They can make a long, hard day a lot easier to handle. They help us sort out the details of our life.

And don't forget a little hammock time!

And lately the days have been ending with perfect nights. Perfect for sitting around a campfire playing music. Or working in the kitchen, listening to the Twins on the radio. Or sitting in the living room with the windows open reading a book. Or walking down the road watching stars blaze across the sky.

Or sleeping. August nights are perfect for sleeping. Leave the window open and the air is cool enough to start cuddling again. Hey, that’s even better than home grown tomatoes!

There are a lot of ways to describe Heaven. A summer day in August is a pretty good start.