The Summertime Blues
Is there a cure?
In 1958 singer Eddie Cochran released a song titled “There Ain’t No Cure for the Summertime Blues,” and if I were to pick a song that is emblematic of this time of year, this would be it.
There has always been something disquieting to me about late summer. It is almost a season unto itself, a span of time that covers roughly the middle of July to the middle of September. The flowers and fields are in full bloom. The leaves on the trees have gone from brilliant yellow-green to a deep green. The dog days descend in a suffocating haze of heat, causing lakes to become blanketed with algae and pond scum.
It is a time of waning, where baseball ends and football begins, where the leaves on the trees tip Nature’s hand and give a glimpse of the Fall to come. Kids soon realize that another school year is on the horizon, and parents realize their child is another year older. Last year’s school clothes suddenly look ancient and will soon be replaced with the new year’s fashion.
As a small child, the unfolding of seasons was something I simply experienced without thinking about it. I never gave any thought to what season it was, how long it lasted, what lay ahead, or even what month it was. I experienced late summer firsthand in what Thoreau called “living deliberately.” I ate the clover and the wild raspberries and…
