What happened to the summer?

"Altweibersommer"

"Gorleston, Summer of '65"

I don’t know the summer break syndrome

Long summer holidays are of course something that I loved as a child.

The endless days of waking with light and sunshine streaming through the windows, knowing that my day would be filled with joy.

I knew that I would be running through the sand with the dog, catching shrimps in the shallows while my Dad caught dabs, and hunting the beach for holes with stones around them. I knew that I would be sitting on the veranda in the cool evenings, eating the catch of the day, which mum always cooked. Telling stories and day-dreaming about the smugglers on the beach, the fishermen out in their boats and hidden treasures in the sand, then sleeping the sleep of heat and exhaustion, my skin tight with salt, sea and sand, knowing that in the morning I would not be getting on my bike and heading for school.

These holiday "breaks" changed when I was a student, strawberry-picking, factory-work, community art projects, and lots of happy times helping Mum in the garden.

The hot summer sunshine didn’t seem to shine endlessly in through the window any more, but it has done again this year even though I have had no holiday. There have been days when I have felt that same old summer feeling, for the first time in a long, long time.

I am self-employed, so I don’t have summer breaks

I usually work more in the summer than in any other months of the year, as this is the time that many of my clients are searching for a conductor.

I am so glad to have been able to pass on some of this work this year to “German conductor No.3” instead of having to say No.

Thank you for helping me out!

Does Cyberspace know the summer-break syndrome?

I wrongly anticipated that the so-called “summer break” that many in the world of education know, would have a quieting effect on the blogosphere. The exact opposite has happened.

There are new "CE blogs" appearing right, left and centre, one CE-blogger even opened up a special summer-holiday blog, and my own blog has been receiving comments at a greater pace than ever before. I have made contacts with many new “friends”, and some visits are even lined up. The world did not go away this summer, as was anticipated.

I am glad about this, as I didn’t feel so alone in my work, and enjoyed the activity on my blog.

Autumn colour

I must admit that I am looking forward to getting an Autumn break, perhaps. I shall not guarantee the same pace of posting on the blog if that happens! I need a holiday and I hope that I will have time to take one, so that later this year I can catch the St Martin’s Summer, the Indian Summer or, best of all the names for this, the Altweibersommer.

I love the subtle changes in colour in the autumn but most of all I love those misty, moisty mornings when the spiders, having jumped across the path on their gossamer threads, leave sticky silks that wrap tightly around my body, giving me the feeling that I am being transported off to the land of elves and fairies.

Many years ago now I was delighted to discover that it is these strong, floating spiders' threads that I so love, that give the name in the German language to this gorgeous time of the year.

As you can imagine I can relate to this definition in German much more readily than to a name that probably describes the time of the year that wars with the American Indians took place!

Notes

Indian summer -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilCSWo2JB5E&feature=related

Altweibersommer –
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altweibersommerhttp://www.der-ruednitzer.de/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/Altweibersommer.jpg