I wish I had a photo handy of a childhood memory. But since I don’t, come along with me, if you will, on a little written visual. 

I have spent a great deal of time visiting or living on our 100+ year old family farm. Summer nights were spent listening to the ‘babbling brook’ (aka, small ditch) out the open window of the bedroom where i lay to go to sleep. The water meant life. Life to fruits and vegetables, green grass and the tallest pine trees that made ‘the forest.’

There was a magical path to follow along side the ditch. One would saunter past the big bush of small red roses, past the forest and down by these beautiful growing things. It was a peaceful place to escape. It was a place to lay on the grassy ditch bank under the swaying weeping willow tree, look up at the sky, watch the clouds and dream away as you listened to the water murmur by. 

One of my favorite children’s songs is Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime? (lyrics here). It always reminded me of  those moments.

I knew I wanted some kind of handwritten quote to invoke those feelings of the magic of summer days. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this quote from John Lubbock. It expressed my sentiments exactly!

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

I mean, truly. It’s exactly what I think.

So I hand wrote an abridged version as a printable for our Summer Freebie, but I am working on a Retro Art version as well because I need the full version in my life! And in my summer documenting. ;)