Columns
Carol Spaeth-Bauer | In the Meantime
Hazy, lazy days of summer
It was hard to think of anything but 9/11 on Sunday - the anniversary of the day terrorism became stark reality rather than a news item we could choose to skim past.
As if goldenwheat and oat fields and back to school lists aren't enough signs that summer is sliding away from us, August is here. While the thermometer still shouts lazy, hazy days of summer, August points to the door where heat and humidity will soon exit to be replaced by school buses.
While I am not much of a fan of humidity, I am less of a fan of the end of summer, especially since I haven't yet experienced the lazy part of those summer days. Now, as a farm girl, one would think I knew little of summer slacking, but years of raising children and picnics at the beach on a nice summer day conditioned me to appreciate downtime.
Last week during Scribblin'Scribes, a summer writing camp, I listened to youngsters reading what they had written about their summer fun - most of which seemed to involve going to Noah's Ark and favoring the Black Anaconda.
They wrote of childhood fun and fantasy, not realizing that in the midst of their summer fun, we had injected some learning, awakening their heat-soaked minds to pry out legible sentences and organized paragraphs as best we could.
Those few hours each day were a brief glimpse of what lies ahead as August winds its way through our lives, offering the Wisconsin State Fair, a few final visits to Great America or Noah's Ark or - my favorite - the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Meanwhile there are still farmers markets, (check out the Mukwonago Chamber of Commerce farmers market on Wednesdays) perhaps a festival or two, or best of all, studying the star-laden sky on a clear August night as a warm breeze erases the heat of the day.
My back-to-school shopping will differ this year with a college-bound student, but my enjoyment for these final weeks of summer will intensify as I soak in the last hot days of time with our youngest graduate and see summer through the eyes of a toddler with our grandson.
- Invest a little time
- Donate to Project Hope
- Resurrecting dedication, determination
- Power in knowledge
- The challenge to be the change
- A hero lies in you
- For the love of reading
- Transforming education
- Looking at a new year
- Good things of all sizes
- A vibrant, healthy community
- Thank you
- Providing simple hope
- Simple Halloween fun
- Time heals all
- Highway sculpting
- Let there be peace on earth
- The cost of 'road closed ahead'
- Limiting vision, improving focus
- The fine art of merging
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Posted Friday, May 18 |
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Photo of the Week by Todd Ponath: ROCKIN' IT - Fred Eide, left, and his daughter Ashley, of Eide Painting and Sandblasting, use spray guns to paint the individual rock shapes on the underside of the I-94 overpass at Highway P in Oconomowoc Wednesday, May 16. Each "rock" is painted individually and then speckled with black paint to make it look like granite.
News or Feature Story of the Week by Andrea Budde: Bigfoot sighting in Eagle turns out to be less than meets the eye
Sports Story of the Week by JR Radcliffe: Netters win 'unofficial' titles conference
Page or layout design of the week by Lisa Leonard: Drop a line and relax
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- Discover Composting
- Christ the King Church of Delafield Resumes Summer Service Schedule
- Greendale Schools June 1 Celebration of Education
- “Savvy Social Security Planning” Seminar to Detail Strategies for Maximizing Benefits
- U.S. Cellular Hosting Free Device Workshop
- Tour Our Very Special Gardens - free - June 25
- Host Daniela from Mexico at Oconomowoc HS
- Very Special Garden Tour - Free - June 23 and June 25
- Wisconsin Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Hits Home Stretch of Annual Milwaukee Man & Woman of the Year Campaign
- Neuroscience Nurse Appreciation Ceremony
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