Dog Days of Summer

"Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun..." So the old song goes.

Well, it's August 1st. I guess we're in the "Dog Days of Summer" -- we're certainly into another heat wave. Phew! (I "googled" that phrase to find out what it means and where it came from. Click here for a short definition and history.)

It won't be long until school starts, and we're back in the grind of another schoolyear..... (Okay, smack me now! I'm pushing that out of my brain for now!)

I smelled Summer today. Sounds odd, huh? But for someone with chronic sinus issues, that's a feat in and of itself. And cause for celebration.

I once wrote a passage in one of my stories about a little girl who sat by her window and smelled the scents of Summer. A college friend of mine from Philly read it and asked me to describe what "Summer smelled like." He really had no idea what I meant by that. No easy task. I'd been smelling it every summer all my life... How did I describe that to someone who hadn't?

Sweet honeysuckle, pungent grass, and warm humidity. Put those smells together with a little hot tarmac and you've got a sample of summer smells.

Okay, okay. It isn't the "Summer" scent you'll smell when you pick up the little souvenir bar of soap at the beach. Or the aroma of the "Summer's Breeze" air freshener.

Ah, well. Everyone's Summer smells a little differently anyway.