It’s been a long time since my schedule revolved around the arrival of summer. Now, it is my daughters who look forward to school being out; sleeping in, staying up later and no homework. In spite of my long separation from school, I still get excited for this time of year anyway. For what it’s worth, I still get excited to wake up in the morning to a covering of fresh snow on the ground too…as long as I don’t have to drive anywhere. That probably means I never fully grew up. I’m good with that.

Summer for me is a time to get outside and enjoy life: it is driving with the windows down and singing along with the radio at the top of my lungs; sitting outside and enjoying the night air; swimming, boating, diving and fishing; working in the yard and coaxing flowers to grow.

As a writer, I have a bit more flexibility with my schedule than the typical job. I can write in the mornings and evenings and get outside and enjoy the day when the sun is up. The downside to that is I’m never fully off work either. It’s not unusual for me to be working on a project, especially when a deadline is looming, late in the evening.

On the other hand, I often find myself “writing” when I’m nowhere near my computer. I take inspiration from the places I go and people I meet. I often make notes in my phone to transfer to my computer later about people or things I want to research further. There is a great likelihood those things will show up later. My friends know all-too-well things they say or do can be used against them in an upcoming blog, short story or novel.

That’s what makes summer such a great time for me. Even in the hottest, stickiest dog days of summer, people want to be outside– typically at the pool or on the river or a lake somewhere. As a diver, I typically try to be under the water at least part of the time as well. I like scuba diving in West Virginia. This is where I learned to dive and I will always come back here. True, it isn’t as colorful as diving on a coral reef, but you might be surprised what you can find underwater around here. For me, that’s true of summer in West Virginia in general. If you get out and look, you just might be surprised at what you can find.

.

The weather could not have been more perfect for today’s Walk for the Cure. It was great to see all the survivors there as an inspiration. There is a lot of work to do though.

My daughter and I walked for a lot of reasons, but one of them was in honor of Teresa Holovic O’Connor. Read more about Teresa. And here in the blog Inspiring rather than complaining. 

.

It seems like everything got green over the weekend. Flowers were out before that, of course, and the grass was growing (I mowed my grass for the first time last Tuesday. Many of my neighbors were on their second cutting and I’m sure they were looking at me wondering why I hadn’t mowed yet, but that’s a different discussion.) Still, this past weekend, it seemed like the earth finally shook off the last vestiges of winter  and spring took hold—my apologies to those of you reading this who live to the north and are still struggling to kick winter to the curb.

It’s fitting, then, that Earth Day should come lock step after this green-up. While we’ve done a lot to care for the earth in recent decades it seems like we still have a lot of work to do. The river that runs through my hometown is dramatically cleaner than it was when I was a kid. The air is much better, too. I don’t hear anyone talk about the Kanawha crud any more—the coughing/wheezing you got from whatever the chemical plants were burning off into the atmosphere. Those are good things.

Last weekend, I spent time in the mountains of Pocahontas County, West Virginia with friends. Most of the county is within the Monongahela National Forest. Still there were beer bottles and soda cans on trails that people could only get to by hiking or riding four wheel drive vehicles. We were all frustrated by the sight of the trash. Pack out whatever you pack in. In the diving world, we say, “Take only pictures and leave only bubbles.”

The group Keep America Beautiful that created the Native American commercial is still out there doing good work.

This would seem to be a place where everyone can agree. “Liberals” who want to be green. “Conservatives” who enjoy nature. Christians and people of every faith who want to obey God. I understand that there are different approaches and we all have different ideas on what we should do, I think sometimes we forget to acknowledge that common ground first. After that, everything should be easy. Honestly, if we would take care of the little things, like litter, I think we would have an easier time with the big issues.

.

This morning I got an email about the new Kindle Zero. It said Amazon would be announcing it today and it would be free. Better still, it would pay you to read difficult books. Too good to be true? Of course it is. It’s April Fool’s Day.

.