What Are YOUR Sounds of Summer?
2009 July 11
Mine are:
- Cicadas in the trees (as kids we used to collect their skins – ugh, what kids do!)
(Click here for a sound of the cicadas. Top left hand side of screen.)
- Slamming screen door
- A baseball game on the radio (any team, any game)
- A ceiling fan
- And weeping (mine) as I hear the air conditioner cycle on – again
How about you? What are your sounds of summer?
Well I live in Milwaukee and the most common sound of summer here is the roar of the Harley’s. As our winters are so bad they are put up for the winter, but come spring you know summer is around the corner when you hear the roar of all the Harley Davidsons that hit the road. You can’t go to a single local parade where there isn’t a contingent of Harley bikers and their distinctive sound of thunder.
I heard about the sound a Harley makes a few years ago, and asked a friend of mine what it was like. He ended up taking me to a motorcycle garage. They had four different types of motorcycles there, and I could instantly tell which one was the Harley.
Actually they are made to be noisy so that motorists hear them and don’t hit them, so they say. Of course they as a corporation promote the idea of not wearing a helmet either ( in states where is allowed),my sis in law calls those who don’t wear them organ donors. Harleys are built here so we had the big 100 year anniversary a few years back and I swear you couldn’t go anywhere in five counties without hearing them they came in from all over the world pluse sharing the road with thousands of these riders was a bit nerve wracking.
I have a couple of favorite summer sounds:
1)hearing my kids playing in their little swimming pool splashing and laughing.
2) hearing the hum of the hummingbird’s wings as they drink the nectar from my flowers.
3) the gobble of the wild turkeys first thing in the morning coming from somewhere in my woods.
4)I also love the sound of the cicadas – my kids collect their emtpy shells (which makes me cringe)
In my area it is very quiet, I’m still trying to get use to desert living.
What I have gotten use to and do love is:
1. the sound of the doves cooing to each other every moring, there has to be about 9-15 out there all the time
2. the sound of my wind chimes as they sway softly in the breeze, soo relaxing and calming
3. the creaky sound of our swing-bench on our back patio as we swing and sip our tea (liquor spiked of course!), it is summer after all
4. at night time the yelping of the coyotes that run free and wild out in the desert behind our house, and let me tell you they can be loud!!
5. the splashing of our backyard waterfall, it is soothing and comforting, I call it my oasis in the desert
I have doves, too, but I have to tell you, I covet your desert sounds!
Except for the coyotes. I used to live somewhere where they howled, and it was both spooky and cliched.
Forgot – I have wind chimes, too, and a hummingbird feeder I consistently forget to refill.
The sounds of summer in the city…
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Summer In The City from 1966.
Though we have those noisy Cicadas here too. But man, they are ugly bugs! I can not imagine touching them, much less collecting their shells. Major ick factor!!!
And we also have the sounds of singing birds to wake you up in the morning… followed by…
The honking horns of all the people who are unhappily sitting in their cars–stuck in traffic–while on their way to the beach.
The sounds of the local neighborhood “block parties” on Saturdays in the summer… music, laughter and kids playing in the closed off streets.
The sounds of the big “Street Fairs & Music Festivals” all over the city… like the big Italian San Gennaro festival in little Italy, and the Our Lady of Mount Carmel – with the “Giglio Sunday” lifting and dancing of “The Boat”. Plus, the delicious smell of Sausage and Peppers and hot Zeppoles fills the air.
The sounds of people sitting out on their front porches talking into the night.
The twinkling musical sounds of the “Good Humor” and “Mr. Softy” ice creams trucks as they make their rounds throughout the day.
Not the sound, but the SIGHT of the twinkling of lightning bugs on a summer night.
LOL! I forgot the link…
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Summer In The City from 1966.