The morning is cloudy, dark and muggy. It is in the high 70’s where it will stay all day, but the breeze, luckily, is a strong one. It is coming from the south. There is a 59%’chance of a thunder shower later this afternoon. I do love thunder showers.

Summer rains are often gentle. When I was a kid, I’d stay outside in the rain. Getting wet was cooling, and my clothes dried quickly in the summer heat. I’d listen to the thunder and be amazed by the lightning. Thunder has a personality. Sometimes it rumbles while other times it cracks and seems to shake the house. My dogs don’t mind the thunder, but if it is loud, they check the ceiling. I once saw lightning hit the ground close to my house. It was jagged and looked like a kid’s drawing of what lightning should be. I sort of forgot myself in the excitement. I was standing under a metal overhang in the front of my house, but the lightning ignored me.

Some days just feel right. I felt that just about every summer day when I was a kid. I had no obligations, no chores and nothing I had to do except enjoy the day. At the playground, I had group tennis lessons a few mornings a week then my coach decided to give me individual lessons the other mornings. I loved tennis. I loved smashing the ball. The rackets were wooden. A wooden frame was attached to the rackets to store them and keep them from warping. The coach brought the rackets. My favorite had a red shaft. At the courts, the air was filled with the sounds of rackets hitting balls. It was a distinctive sound. During the day, I’d do crafts, play horseshoes and checkers. In the afternoons, after lunch, we had softball games against the other playgrounds. I was a pitcher and a first baseman. We won more than we lost. Every rainless summer day was filled with fun. I always slept well.

Last night I had a fluffernutter for dinner with extra crunchy peanut butter. I slathered the white bread with Marshmallow Fluff on one side and peanut butter on the other. The Fluff oozed a bit out the sides, but I caught it with my tongue. It was like keeping ice cream from melting down the cone. Both are feats at which kids excel.

I will be mostly lazy today. The only thing I need to do is vacuum. The balls of fur strewn about the floor are too many to ignore. I have noticed spider webs around the house, especially in the corners and joining one thing to another. I make sure the spiders are elsewhere before I clear the webs. My to-do list has nothing else.

This entry was posted on July 21, 2026 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.