Wise Woman Travel

Autumn blogging was easy. Last November, when Magpie Learner left the nest for the first time, evening was arriving earlier and earlier.  I’d stand at my living room window and watch the last of the elm leaves shivering on bare branches. As our furnace kicked in at my feet, I’d close the drapes,  cozy into my lounge chair, and write.

By January, blogging was practically a necessity. As the snow piled up and the temperatures plummeted, I took refuge in the literal and figurative  warmth of my little enotebook,  keyboard dreaming to escape a prairie winter that didn’t want to let go. Even when the calendar said it should be spring, the cold weather lingered. I was forced to delay the delight of planting my container flower garden well into May, and even early June.  Might as well blog…

Now, finally, it’s summer. Where I live on the Canadian prairies, June soulstice brings us more than 17 daylight hours. Summer  warmth lingers into the evening. The aroma of barbecuing steaks wafts through the neighborhood. Restaurant patios are packed with people wearing cool sunglasses. Festivals fall all over each other, competing for our attention: The Works Art and Design Festival, Jazz City, the FreeWill Shakespeare Festival, Taste of Edmonton, the Street Performers Festival, the Folk Festival, the Fringe Festival. There are so many activities attracting my Magpie quest for new experiences, I hardly know what to do first.

But blogging? Now that’s another story – and not one that I’m particularly motivated to tell. Summer just doesn’t seem like the time to do the hard mental work of putting ideas onto virtual paper.Maybe it’s my background as a public school teacher that signals the beginning of two months of leisure. Maybe it’s the heat. Or maybe it’s the words of a Globe and Mail newspaper columnist whose words about summer in Canada always stuck with me: “In July, we think summer will last forever. By August, we know it won’t.”

Whatever the reason, I realize it’s been almost a month since my last post. And so, Magpie Learner readers, I’m offering you a mea culpa version of “Summer Lovin'” from the musical Grease. Is it an excuse for not blogging regularly this summer? Yup. Is it designed as a stop gap measure to humor you until I feel like blogging again? Absolutely.

Since no parody is any fun unless you know the original, have a listen here if you’re not familiar with the tune or you don’t remember the words. Then watch for your part in the new lyrics and let me hear you loud and clear across the blogosphere:

[Pam]

Summer bloggin’ isn’t a blast

Summer bloggin’ doesn’t go fast

Weather’s warmer, don’t wanna post

Writing’s hard now, I’d rather coast

 

Summer days driftin’ away

Maybe I’ll blog some summer night.

[Magpie Learner Readers]
Uh well-a well-a well-a huh

Tell us more, tell us more

Did you get very far?

Tell us more, tell us more

Did you write above par?

Uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh

[Pam]

Thoughts swim by me, brain’s got a cramp

I don’t chase them, interest is damp

I don’t save them, don’t write them down

I ignore them, head out of town.

Summer sun, wanna have fun

Maybe I’ll blog some summer night

[Magpie Learner Readers]

Uh well-a well-a well-a huh

Tell us more, tell us more

Are ideas in sight?

Tell us more, tell us more

Please don’t put up a fight

Uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh

[Pam]
Wanna sit here,  read in the shade

Have some nachos, drink lemonade

Tend my flowers, go for a walk

It’s still light past ten o’clock

Summer’s here, hand me a beer

Maybe I’ll blog some summer night

[Magpie Learner Readers]
Uh well-a well-a well-a huh

Tell us more, tell us more

Is a post in the bag?

Tell us more, tell us more

Or did you hit a snag?

Shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop,shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop, YEH

[Pam]
Summer’s friendly, holding my hand

Wanna bury my toes in the sand

Summer’s sweet, she’s no has-been

Summer’s good, you know what I mean

[Magpie Readers]
Woah!

[Pam}

Summer heat, it can’t be beat

Maybe I’ll blog some summer night

[Magpie Learner Readers]
woo, woo, woo

Tell us more, tell us more

When will you post again?

Tell us more, tell us more

Sunday, Monday or when?

[Pam]
In a few weeks, summer will end

When it does will

we still be friends?

‘Cause I’ve made this blogging vow

Post this fall, don’t post much now

Summer days, won’t always stay

I’ll be back on some August ni -ight!

[Magpie Learner Readers]
Tell us more, tell us more!