Summer Breeze

The Nature Park's school programme 'Signs of Spring' ends this week and the new one, 'Bees in the Bog' will start next week. I went in for training this morning, always a lot of fun. And my goodness isn't the outside world obliging, over the weekend and today it has been like full summer, the temperature outside the Surrey Arts Centre yesterday was 23º although the radio was only claiming 18º for Vancouver.

And the bees were out in the bog, honey bees, bumble bees, I have lots of bee stuff to learn. I also found out what a Douglas Fir smells like and wow, it is citrusy and fragrant, not at all like the good old antisceptic scent of pine we're used to in Europe.

Back in Blighty I have two toiling offspring, Alex is wrestling with an A-level history project that had to be prepared thoroughly and then written up over three days under exam conditions and Ben is knocking his head against deadlines for GCSE coursework and practicals. In my head, good weather and public exams are inextricably linked.

As are strawberries. In Britain, although we start getting Spanish strawbs a lot cheaper around now, the finest ones, the English strawberries are not generally in the shops for about another month, June is strawberry month in Britain, culminating with strawberries and cream at Wimbledon.
Here, we have been getting good, reasonably priced Californian strawbs for a couple of weeks now, so even more summery feelings.

At Kevin's parents' house yesterday afternoon, we were able to sit out on the deck and watch the finches in the trees, a pair of Canada geese on the golf course, and as you might epxect, the golfers had all come out to play.

I can't remember the last time I was able to appreciate this part of the year, not when I was, like Ben and Alex, preparing for summer exams, and not all the time I was in teaching. Summer started at the end of July and until then, hot weather and sunshine were just factors to be contended with, not always a battle that could be won.

My friend Dawn, an alternative high school teacher in New Hampton, finishes towards the end of May and I was forever being caught out by that. Around Easter she'd be looking towards the end of the school year, whilst I was thinking about the new term. And then when school finally finished for me at the end of July, Dawn would be starting to plan for the new school year.

In the house, I have to have the doors and windows open to let some air in, we have bug screens so it's only air that can get in. At the Nature Park where the doors also have to be open, we now have a curtain, strips of yellow plastic with solid diamond shapes at intervals, to stop the hummingbirds flying in and killing themselves. It reminds me of the one we used to have over the back door when Amanda and I were little, ours was black and red plastic strips like a big curtain of liquorish strips that rippled in the summer breeze.

Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind...yesterday dragons, today jasmine and the only herb involved is coriander. Odd, must be the weather.