Summer Bliss!

Image from Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/bringblissback/

Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.

Henry James

Image from Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/bringblissback/

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Kahil Gibran

Summer is officially here and thank goodness. I have been just counting down the days to summer vacation. The long lazy days. The blazing sunsets. The warm summer nights slow to arrive. This is the season to be outside, when life slows down a little bit and there are just too many excuses for not getting dressed. I am so ready for this time of the year when it’s totally acceptable to admit to being lazy and nobody judges you because they’re doing the exact same thing. My favorite summer memories from childhood involve friends, fresh air and living in the moment. Running carefree through the sprinkler with fresh grass clippings clinging to my ankles. Wearing my swimsuit all day long and sometimes, even falling asleep in it after I finally collapsed in bed way, way, way past my usual ‘school time’ bedtime. Eating orange sherbet push-up pops from the Schwann’s truck with my little brothers. Licking the sticky orange syrup as it melted over my freshly tanned hands. Long slow canoe rides in the coastal Mississippi swamps with my goofy, adventure-loving grandmother, listening to her tales of the most recent alligator sightings. Riding horses in cut-offs, my thighs chaffing from rubbing against the warm saddle in the sun. My bare feet slipping out of the heavy wood stirrups and swinging in the warm muggy air. I just couldn’t get enough of this summer bliss. What are some of your favorite summer memories? What new adventures are you discovering this summer? Where are you seeking your bliss this summer?

Image from Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/bringblissback/

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.

John Lubbock

Image from Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/bringblissback/

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed,

how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver

Lyric from Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, 1998 Image from Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/bringblissback/

Bring Bliss Back Blog is on Instagram sharing blissful ideas for adventuring! Follow @bringblissback. Share pictures of your blissful summer adventures and tag @bringblissback. Share your bliss! Visit Bring Bliss Back Blog for a few tasty ideas to savor this summer. Inspirational resource and tools always provided on Bring Bliss Back Blog.