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| Red currants for compote |
“See you in September,” a friend said as our
Bible study group parted last week.
“What?
Only two months left of summer!” I replied.
A
hot, humid afternoon, I drove to Cook’s Farm Dairy in Ortonville. There, I
filled two coolers with 25 containers of my “special order” Lavender Lemon
Honey Ice Cream and packed them in my freezer. My guests anticipate this annual,
refreshing treat come July and August.
Unlike many
Michiganders who escape suburbia for their lakeside home, I prefer to avoid the
Zilwaukee Bridge traffic. Born a fair-skinned Appalachian, the rural landscape
with a swing under a shade tree appeals to me.
I almost learned
to swim as a high-school sophomore when a friend invited me to join the
synchronized swim team. My mother never knew my fellow teammates saved my life
several times during those three years as a student of Warren Lincoln High
School.
Although my front
crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke remain pathetic, I carry watering cans and
pull hoses to flower beds and pots like a pro. Yes, it’s a solitary sport, yet
nonetheless engaging when I observe birds splashing in their backyard bath—robins
the #1 bully.
We’re presently in
a drought here in north Addison Township. If sustained, my bathroom scale may
fall below 130 pounds for the first time in forty-five years. All I can say is praise
God for my golf cart!
Yes, Betsy, my
inseparable gardening companion, waits by my side to carry garbage cans of
weeds and deadheaded plants to the back forty dump yard. My husband Mel
replaces Betsy’s spark plugs and fills her gas tank to keep us going and my
gardens growing.
Ah…my window’s
open to birdsong and blooming daylilies. Eighty one degrees and thirty-three
percent humidity. Wind five miles per hour in this good old summertime.
Hmm…I hear another
song in the atmosphere.
Indeed,
this month in 1949, MGM released their romantic musical The Good Old Summertime, the leading stars Judy Garland and Van
Johnson.
Five months old
then, I now wonder if my father, a film fan, drove my mother to the theater in
Williamson, West Virginia, to see and hear Judy sing.
Wikipedia
says MGM’s Technicolor production is a “musical adaptation of the 1940 film, The Shop Around the Corner, starring
James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan.” The plot of a mail romance returned in
the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail starring
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
I,
amongst millions, ran to the theater to see Tom and Meg perform in another
artistic rendition of the 1937 play Parfumerie
written by Miklos Laszlo. I would set down money for a movie back then.
Dear Reader, I
foresee devoting a few winter evenings in 2023 to Jimmy and Margaret in The Shop Around the Corner, and Judy singing,
“In the good old summertime, In the good old
summertime, Strollin' through the shady lanes…”
Meanwhile,
the larkspur need deadheading, the roses and peonies pant for another dose of
foliar spray, and I’ve currants to compote.
