By August, I feel the laziness or the daze that summer tends to bring. Poor August! It seems to be sandwiched between July’s holidays and family vacations, and September’s back-to-school vibes and the anticipation of Autumn.
“I’m very, very lazy. I love to sit in a chair and look out the window and do nothing.”
~ Ingmar Bergman
Or if you live in the southern hemisphere, perhaps you experience the winter blues as you anxiously await spring?
In the western US, many of us deal with not only the daze of coming home from weeks of travel and getting back to normal but also the haze of smoke from wildfires that we may experience as summer heat takes hold.
Even sunsets feel lazy and hazy in hot smokey air.
Back in my days as a university lecturer, as I walked around the university campus in late August a few years ago, a student wasn’t shy about extending his summer break in his hammock during the first day of classes.
“The reality of being here eludes me, I can’t focus, I am dazed…” ~Sonali Deraniyagala
Even the sunflowers are feeling lazy.
Lazy Daze Around Water
A day spent on the lake, river, or ocean can be anything but lazy. These kayakers might have paddled but the river’s current helped push them along.
The water looked a little lazy the other day!
Before we made the welcome move to Washington, hubby and I spent many lazy-ish summer weekends at the Sacramento Delta.
In 2019, not long after my foot surgery for which I wore a cast for 2 months, I was eager to get back on the water on a hot August afternoon.
Unfortunately, I was out of shape and feeling lazy! ☹
A photo of my daughter’s dog Gideon attests to a relaxing day on the Delta beach.
July’s Tanka Tuesday: A Day at the Beach
It’s not unusual to feel lazy during the summer months. Who hasn’t dreamed of spending unstructured time lying by the beach or pool? Ironically, my former job as a parks and recreation aquatic director was to work super hard all summer to provide those lazy days to our citizens.
“Doing less is not being lazy. Don’t give in to a culture that values personal sacrifice over personal productivity.” ~ Tim Ferris
Each month I have been collaborating with Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge to provide an inspirational photo for the prompt.
The image might personify a lazy day at the beach, but the poems I read brought the beach to life! My favorite was from Padres’ Ramblings. His poem clearly personified the busy days of lifeguards working at the public beaches of San Diego.
Arriving early
The Season, by Padre (used with permission)
making ready for the throng
ever vigilant
lifeguards face the summer rush
and dream of autumn breezes
Not So Lazy Entertaining and Travel
We had a house full of people for several days between July 22-Aug 4 (hence my short blog break). Not only were my brother and his partner and their two dogs staying with us, my other brother and his brood of 5 camped in their RV in our driveway for three days. We also hosted a BIG BBQ with 20 guests on our newly constructed backyard deck (26’x20’) that sits partially under our new patio cover.
The new deck is a perfect place to spend a lazy morning. Hubby felt especially lazy last week. He and his brother worked on the deck expansion for 5 days in 90+F heat in order to have it ready for our family!
Last Wednesday, my brother and his partner traveled with us by car for 5 hours to Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia for an overnight stay. It was hot and smokey in Radium and there was fire burning on the ridge.
Radium Hot Springs has a cold pool and a hot pool (102F/38C)! The cold pool was under construction, so we endured the hot pool in air temps of 95F/35C).
My time in the hot spring lasted five minutes. Needless to say, we felt quite lazy as we departed at 8:00pm to go to dinner. More about our Canada trip soon!
An old image/meme of my daughter sitting on the beach in Waikiki, Oahu. After a whirlwind day back in 2006, relaxing on the beach was welcomed.
Inspiring Photo Challenges This Week
Each week I find inspiration from my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I enjoy incorporating these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.
- Cee’s Flower of the Day
- Jez’ Water Water Everywhere
- Hammad’s Weekend Sky
- Johnbo’s CellPic Sunday
- Marsha’s Wednesday Quotes: Solitude
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
This Week’s Featured Bloggers
Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers, poets, and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are this week’s links from bloggers who shared their photos of lazy, hazy days. I add these all week as new links are posted. Thank you for sharing almost 30 links for Seeing Double two weeks ago!
- YOUR BLOG’S NAME GOES HERE…
- Between the Lines
- The Blog of Hammad Rais
- Bushboys World
- Cee’s Photo Challenges
- The Day After
- Deb’s World
- EquipoiseLife
- Gfpacificbee’s Insights & Photography
- Graham’s Island
- Hugh’s Views and News
- LadyLee Manila
- Light Words
- Live Laugh RV
- Loving Life
- Photos By Jez
- Quaint Revival
- Roberta Writes
- Stevie Turner
- This is Another Story
- NEW! Two Trails One Road
- Travel with Me
- Wandering Dawgs
- Whippet Wisdom
- Woolly Muses
Is the summer starting to drag on for you? Perhaps the winter is getting old if you are in the southern hemisphere? What puts you in a lazy, hazy daze this time of year? I am looking forward to your creative images and ideas!
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Join me next Sunday for the August color challenge–YELLOW!
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