Back in the dark ages when I was still a kid, summer seemed to last forever. There were endless hot and steamy days, picking flowers, chasing butterflies, riding horses and eating raspberries. Time stretched and slowed.

Now, time slips through my fingers like water. It’s already August and, after waiting all winter for summer, it’s disappearing faster than I can enjoy it. Must have something to do with having a job!

To hold onto summer I’m making a concerted effort to enjoy something quintessentially summer every day. Whether it be riding through the wildflowers enjoying the heady scent of Queen Anne’s lace — which brings me right back to my childhood when I used to pick flowers and press them in one of the encyclopedia type books called The Book of Knowledge — or watching the monarch butterflies land in fields of Goldenrod.

I’m taking time to watch the red tailed hawks. One landed right next to my car last week going after a rodent. I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or him!

Even when it’s hot — and it’s been pretty brutal with the humidity — and the deer flies are circling, I’m trying to ride at least for a short time. It won’t be long before it’s cold again and I”ll be dreaming of August heat. I think back to when I was a kid and the summers where I spent eight weeks at riding camp. It was such a dream come true that we never questioned riding in the heat of the day. I remember they encouraged us to drink salty water . . . and that I feinted once when I dismounted, heat and dehydration taking their toll. And I wasn’t the only one.

And, I’m spending more time at our local pond, where I’m working on an equestrian-themed novel. Listening to the kids playing in the water is the perfect backdrop as I can hijack their sleep summer days that last so much longer than mine.

What are you doing to make sure that summer doesn’t pass you by?