Country view: Summer fun

Summer under the stars

We were looking for an inexpensive way to socialize with folks on the neighboring farms when my sister came up with a great idea. We rented a projector to connect to our DVD player, hung a sheet up on the side of the barn and invited the families to a "Summer Under the Stars" party where we screened a children's movie and then two old favorites from our collection of videos. Our first choices were Racing Stripes, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Bull Durham.

We supplied popcorn and homemade lemonade, everyone brought a covered dish, and chairs or blankets and we all had a wonderful night without a tremendous expense. Our friends are looking forward to our next movie night and are casting votes for the new videos. We hope "Summer Under the Stars" will become an annual mid-summer tradition.

T. Ellen Davis, Starke, Florida

Summer's here again!

Oh my! How quickly spring transpires into summer! Everything in this world seems to be happening faster. The summers of long ago seemed so length -- has it changed, have I changed, or has the world changed? I think it's me! My mind, with agreement from a lot of my friends, has been slowly conditioned to speed with everything! I resisted the evolution of a changing world, but somehow, here I am! Right smack dab in the middle of it! Why do I (we) feel the need to jam pack every minute, every hour with the most needless of activities? If we take a slow paced second to stop and think about it, sitting on a porch swing and pondering simple thoughts could be one of the most important activities we could actually do. Pondering simple thoughts on a porch are food and nourishment for the soul! We are so overly programmed to force our craniums into solving problems. Trying to do "things" as complicated as trying to coerce the world's economy, or to save the planet from global warming. Not that those are bad things to try to fix, but we simply can't focus on that kind of thing ALL the time! No wonder we feel out of sorts. We have our minds using every nerve and neuron to sort things out that cannot be sorted out by one person.

Why can we not get back to simpler ways? To sitting in a rocking chair for no other reason than to have a look at the world. Not to fix it, but to embrace it! Hasn't our meddling with all of the best God-made aspects caused us to be in the binds and predicaments we are in? Why can we not be and let be? Look at how the earth has so many small miracles going inside the rim of a bigger focus. Do the ants always strive to update and achieve anything they haven't in the past? I think not! In the ant world it is as it always has been, a world created for them, not so much by them!

Don't we forget who is really in charge of the universe? In these sore economic times, we need to especially get back to a more simpler, slower, more meaningful way of life! I don't mean giving up on learning and embellishing what we know, but to take what we know to a richer state of being. A state that involves all of the senses. I mean the heart things, all of the things we were created to do! In this world, the name of the game is survival. But survival doesn't always mean taking care of the external! It means nourishing our souls, our spirits, the best part of us! So, this summer, I plan to do just that. To really get a deep breath of air, to feel the sun's warmth on my skin. To celebrate life with my heart! Not with the "frantic frenzy" for things out of reach.

Summer is a time to grow -- to be made full. It is the season with the richest, ripest of pleasures. The lushness of the grass and the weeds alike. The deepest colors that harmonize with every portion of nature. It is the embodiment of smells and the arousal of our every sense! Summer is the accumulation of all of the other seasons. Let us all be awakened to nature and to ourselves! Maybe, just maybe, then we will have the return of old forgotten pleasures. The ones we forgot, not the ones that forgot us! Isn't this the reason summer was created?

Kathy Burris Sikes, Galax, Virginia