Oh, glorious summer!

Is there really anything as wonderful as summer in Minnesota? Perhaps it is the anticipation that builds over the months of winter, gray and cold. But truly, it is hard to beat Minnesota in the summertime. The temperature is perfect, getting up to the mid- to high-seventies...everything is green and still new, not faded in too much intense sun. The colors are magnificent. I went for a ride on my bike, pleasantly hot with exertion but fully enjoying a steady breeze that brushed through the pines the entire time. There was the sound of frogs squeaking in the ponds as I passed and birds greeting each other in the trees. Dragonflies landed briefly in my path as I went along, and I smiled as I passed horses in the fields. Buttercups were turning their faces toward the sun and I inhaled the scent of lilacs growing wild along the road. Best of all is the arrival of the lupines; they're just opening in their shades of indigo, lavender and rose. I am thrilled to see them every summer, thrilled to see where they will turn up each year like a hidden treat sprinkled along the countryside. This sounds a lot like poetry, but that is what summer in Minnesota is like: a poem. It's brief, startling, and beautiful. It fills you with excitement and emotion, and it is over much too soon.