The Sounds of Summer

When I was growing up, I loved the sound of the window fan in my bedroom at night.  There was no central air conditioning and heating back then.  We had a furnace in the basement to which we fed coal for heat and opening up all the windows and using window fans was our summer cooling system.  And I loved the sound of that window fan.  I would lie perfectly still and listen as the fan used it's soft hums to lull me to sleep.

When we camped out in the backyard in the summer months, I loved to listen to the crickets (or were they cicadas?).  Funny that I never tried to find the little things and capture them.  Some people are annoyed by their sounds but, for me, their songs worked as a lullaby.

I loved the sounds of all the kids at the neighborhood pool--of kids having fun.  There was plenty of laughter; applause when some silly boy did a belly flop when he really meant to impress some girl with a lovely swan dive; girls screaming as the boys pushed them into the pool from their strategic positions on the side of the pool; splashing; and the ever popular Marco/Polo...

The sounds of us kids running around the backyard playing Freeze Tag or chasing lightning bugs for capture in our jars with the holes punched in the lids.  Although, sometimes, there might be some disagreement over whether or not someone was actually tagged during Freeze Tag.

When I visited my grandparents I loved waking up to the sounds of the birds chirping in the yard.  My grandmother used to say, "Listen to that one!  He's talking about you!  Do you hear what he's saying?"  And I would listen so very hard and Grandmother would translate, "Prettygirlprettygirl."

There was the squeaky sound of the screen door as we opened it and then let it slam shut even though our parents would yell out, as soon as they heard the squeak, "Don't slam the screen door!"

The sound of a bee buzzing past my head; barking dogs; squirrels chasing each other round and round and up and down a tree; an approaching thunder storm; rain as it beat against the house; the ice cream truck...

Once the lovelies came along my list of favorite summer sounds grew to include the laughing of the gulls at the beach, the sounds of the waves hitting the shore and the lovelies laughing as the waves knocked them down.  And the sound of their shovels digging in the sand for the building of truly magnificent sandcastles.  The screech of their swing set as they yelled out, "Look how high I can go Mommy!"  The sound of anyone mowing the lawn BESIDES ME and backyard cookouts...

Seems there's something to summer besides heat and humidity after all. 

Here's another sound... from the summer of my eleventh year:

What are your favorite summer sounds?