Summer -- Weekly Inspiration from Jenny

As summer winds down, this week's inspiration comes from our clarinetist, Jenny Woodrum.  The weather here in Chicago has been wonderful this week, so hopefully you've all be able to enjoy some outside time!  Check back at the end of next week for more Weekly Inspiration from Fifth House Ensemble members!  

Three things  happened this week that signify summer is coming to a close.  First of all, students have been asking about setting their fall lesson time.  Second of all, I've been updating my personal calender with Fifth House stuff like a madwoman.  Thirdly, my bike ride tonight was cut short by how dark it was at 8:30 PM.

If there is something you should know about me, it is that I LOVE SUMMER.  I love the sun on my skin so much that I hardly ever wear shirts with sleeves and never ever wear long pants in the summer.  The less clothing I have on, the more contact the sun can have with my skin.

I love hot summer days because they end in the perfect summer nights.   There is nothing better than  sitting  on my back porch listening to the chirping bugs, looking up at a perfectly round moon and experiencing the relief from the heat now that the sun has long gone down.

How about all the great outdoor summer music fests?  There is ALWAYS something to do in Chicago in the summer. Find me a city park or street with live music, people walking around with plastic cups of microbrews  and long rows of vendors selling everything from long hippie skirts to water balloon launchers and I am there.

Don't even get me started on how much I love eating  in the summer.  The fresh fruits and vegetables right now are blowing my mind.  I look forward to every meal like most people might look forward to a vacation.  The variety of flavors in the fresh produce right now literally transport me to another dimension at every meal.

My dogs smile a lot more in the summer.  For them summer means more walks and more time in the yard.  Most importantly, it means more barking because the sidewalk in front of our house gets a whole lot more traffic in the months of June through August.

My home in the summer: the central air is rarely on (although this year it was on way more than usual), windows are open, if the Cubs are playing there are at least three different radios playing it simultaneously as my husband moves through the house going about his business, the dogs are dragging in mud and dirt from the yard and I am cursing at them, Charlie and I just came from or are about to find a new playground that we've never been to.

  Fifth House Ensemble