Smells and Sounds of Summer

Summer in the northwest is Glorious (yes, it deserves a capital G). That might sound like an exaggeration, but it's true. It's so much more than pleasant, nice, beautiful, amazing or even gorgeous. It's Glorious. It's what makes living here during the rest of the year worth it. Every time the rain gives way to summer weather (almost like clockwork on July 5th) I'm reminded of why I love living here to much. I literally revel in the beauty, sights, sounds and smells. Here are some of the smells and sounds I've been reminded of recently with the (brief) return of beautiful weather:

Smells of Summer:
- Freshly mowed grass
- Gas from all the lawnmowers
- Meat grilling on the BBQ
- Blackberries - any nature walk (heck, even some in town) during the summer smells like ripening blackberries. They are everywhere! In August when they're ripe, you can actually smell the warmth and sun on them. That might sound impossible, but I promise, it isn't.
- Chalk on the sidewalk
- Dirt. It doesn't smell dirty though. It smells like rich, fertile dirt from everyone re-landscaping their yards and planting their gardens.
- Tomatoes - they have a slightly spicy scent when they're on the vine.
- Chlorine
- Sunscreen
- Soap and wet pavement from all the people washing their cars.
- Funnel cake and other assorted fried county fair/festival foods from all the various celebrations going on all over the region.

Sounds of Summer:
- The hum of lawnmowers
- The splashing of water - from garden hoses, water buckets, baby pools, swimming pools, baths to clean up all the dirt they played in, etc.
- The chirping of birds, starting at about 4:30am. I know this because we sleep with our bedroom window open in the summer and have to get up and close it every morning when the birds start chirping earlier than we want to wake up.
- Shoes pounding the pavement. There are TONS of runners and walkers out during this brief time. They literally go past our house all day, starting early in the morning and going late into the evening.
- The music from the ice cream truck.
- Children squealing - sometimes in happiness, sometimes in frustration over someone not playing a certain game by the rules.
- The distant strains of music from the concerts at the amphitheater.
- Fireworks - they're legal here (pretty good ones too) unlike where I grew up in California. People stock up and shoot them off all summer.

Did I miss any?

It's GLORIOUS, I tell you! :)