"It is a sad reflection when summer has passed and one has to wait another year for its glorious return. I have had two chest infections during the past six months,(the first one which lasted four months), and after being clear for one week, it returned a month ago for a second bite of the cherry.
Having been largely confined to either my bed or the house for most of the summer months without tasting its delights and not seeing it in all its natural splendour, has been one of the hardest experiences to endure.
I always feel sad for people who miss out on all that summer has to offer. I think, 'What a waste of a summer! What a waste of a life! Yet living one's span of life is not too different. If we go about our life being unaware of the presence of others in it and of their significance to our state of well-being, then all we do is to take their nectar and keep it to ourselves. We become trapped in our own world of selfishness and never learn the true benefit of sharing the common seed. Unless we become part of spreading summer's seed, selfishness and isolation begins to store up a sense of bitterness and resentment in us. We gradually start to live a life of permanent regret; we become hermits to humanity.
Such hermits live through their youth, adulthood, middle years and old age, having greatly missed out life's meat of their sandwich in between one season and another. By failing to connect to their family, neighbours, friends and world around them, they have failed to marry the seasons of their existence. Their summers are too hot, their autumns too windy and their winters too cold. As for spring, it came and went before they noticed its passing! What a waste of some wonderful missed experiences!
So it is with their existence; one day they wake up in the autumn of their days; they suddenly realise that life has passed them by and that summer will never come again. I believe that the very best way; indeed the only way, for any individual not to regret the passing of a summer, is to truly enjoy it by being an active part of it! So, while the birds and the bees do their bit to spread the goodness around, then do no less with your fellow man and connect with the seasons of your life.
Get out there while you can or you'll never know what you're missing. You may even see the kind of bare back riding which would grace any summer rodeo." William Forde: September 28th, 2016.