Finneran: Summer’s Jewels

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Friday, July 10, 2015

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

That was some winter we had. Ask Governor Baker or any Mayor or snowplow operator in Massachusetts. I’ve seen more than a few winters now and this past January/ February of 2015 will last in my memory for many a year. Such hard experience can make us mellow in appreciation for many things………

How about a backyard neighborhood barbeque? Or an afternoon or evening dip in a neighbor’s pool—assuming that you’ve been invited of course? Regarding “barbeque” I’ll confess to a preference for seafood—striped bass, scallops, and steamed mussels in either a marinara or Dijon mustard sauce. But don’t get caught between me and a good old-fashioned hamburger, marinated steak tips, or a hot dog. That’s dangerous territory and I’m usually armed with a trencherman’s appetite. Particularly if the guy on the grill is my friend Kevin or my friend Henry…………they think that they’re better than Emeril and I tend to agree with them. They’re pretty cool dudes.

How about those early morning sunrises? And the joy of a 5:00 AM walk along an empty beach……I call those walks and the accompanying swims my “millionaire’s swims” for it’s the equivalent of living large on God’s unending dime. 

The sight of beautiful green breakers on the ocean side of the Cape can easily carry you through a dozen blizzards. And the feel-like-a-kid joy of body-surfing those breakers never gets old. Or how about the calm still waters of a town cove or the bayside of the Cape? Very often there’s not even a ripple to behold and the silence of it all, occasionally broken by diving and feeding birds, is one of Nature’s best speeches. Of late, I’ve taken to watching for adult ospreys, now teaching their young how to hunt in the banquet line of Cape Cod waters. Those adults are amazing aircraft, models for the USAF. 

Speaking of aircraft, hummingbirds have returned to our flower gardens. Right now they’re drinking from lots of blooming foxglove. Soon though they’ll hover around the orange and yellow trumpet vines, adding their own beauty to the scene. Their mechanics are amazing, very different from the power and strength of the ospreys. The hummingbirds are Nature’s hovercraft and I assume that the aeronautical geniuses at MIT study both birds closely. There is much to learn.

There’s another hum to enjoy in these summer months, another beautiful sound in Nature’s symphony. That’s the hum of honeybees hard at work. Some years ago I planted about a hundred lavender plants on an embankment. They are a late June-early July sight to behold and their fragrance perfumes the air. They are also a magnet for honeybees. Bumblebees too. The hum of those gentle creatures, so hard at work, matches the magnificence of the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. It’s really a concert of sight and sound, matched by the industry of each little bee prepping their queen and their hive for winter.

No ode to summer can pass over the glories of baseball without mention. And there is little need to dwell or fret over the Red Sox. With the Red Sox it is what it is, as Bill Parcells, from another sport, used to say. No, the baseball of which I speak is a game of catch in the backyard, it’s T-ball with the grandkids, or Little League, or Pony League, or travelling squads. It’s summer nights in Brockton, or Pawtucket, or the Cape Cod League. It’s hitting a hundred grounders a night to your budding varsity infielder and watching the improvement week by week. That’s as much a part of summer as June fireflies, July fireworks, and August picnics.

So to the winter of 2015, and to your future successors, go ahead---you already hit us with your best shot. Better luck next year. We’re still standing and still smiling. And we’re enjoying the revenge of long days, warm sands, and naps on the hammock. We’re in training for whatever you have in store for us, for summer, beautiful summer, is our miracle medicine. Enjoy.

Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.

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Related Slideshow: 10 Things to Do In New England Before Summer’s Over

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