In 1934 George
Gershwin wrote the hit song, “Summertime,” for the Broadway musical, Porgy
and Bess. The first lines (and you know them!) go like this, “Summertime,
and the living is easy. Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high.” Whereas, we
don’t have cotton we do have corn and a drive through the countryside proves
that to be true. The corn is high and, according to my fishing son, the fish
are biting.
This past
weekend I took a drive through the countryside. Actually, more than one so that
I can soak in the beauty of Indiana’s landscape. With my windows rolled down, I
can smell August. Some months have such strong scents like April or October,
but August smells like heat and then the blessings of the rain add to that. The
sounds of August are different now too. In the spring the peepers give us a
glimpse of spring, but now crickets are showcasing the August nights. Sitting
out late on my porch, the crickets serenade my neighborhood providing a cacophony
of night sounds.
As I mentioned
last week, it is also the Perseid Meteor Showers. By Wednesday evening, you can
expect 50-100 beautiful shooting stars an hour. If you see one, please make a
wish on a falling star! You do not even need a telescope for this event, It is
best to find a dark location and it takes at least 20 minutes for your eyes to
adjust to the darkness. That is not the only celestial event for this week. In
the early morning hours, (yes, coffee on the stoop) you can witness the
aligning of these planets: Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
The best time to view is an hour before sunrise. A total solar eclipse is also
due on August 12. Unfortunately for us, the best viewing is in Spain. (You
might be able to still get a flight, if you hurry!) As for those of us in the
states, we might catch a small glimpse of it on Wednesday.
With all these
beautiful events of August this week, I have thought a lot about the beauty of
where we live. Sometimes Indiana gets shoved aside for beauty. I met a woman
once on a ferry who asked where I was from. She was a lovely New Yorker with
the strongest accent, and when I told her Indiana, she about fell of her ferry
seat. She immediately called for her husband to meet me. They said they had
never met anyone from Indiana or been to Indiana. It was all I could do to not
say, “We even have running water and electricity!” I did think it, but I didn’t
say it out loud. I see the beauty of my home state.
I also pay
close attention to artists as they paint or describe Indiana. For the
Bicentennial year, I was asked to develop a story on T.C. Steele (1847-1926.)
He was one of the first, and probably most celebrated American Impressionist
painters from Brown County. He studied plein air painting in Munich and brought
it back to Indiana. By the 1890’s his work was exhibited from New York to San
Francisco. His work still hangs in Indianapolis in the Indianapolis Museum of
Art and in the Indiana State Museum. Fifty of his paintings still hang in his
studio at “The House of the Singing Wind.”
At the same
time James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916), known for his Indiana poems and prose
was putting rural Indiana front and center. We all know his most famous poem,
“Little Orphant Annie.” You can access all of his work online at the Project
Gutenberg. There is also a collection of his work, including manuscripts,
personal letters in the Indianapolis University Library.
We owe both of
these men a big thank you for recording our early history in art and in poetry.
It makes a wonderful field trip to travel to Indianapolis to see the works of
these men and then go on down to Brown County to tour Steele’s studio.
Even if you
don’t get to Indy, it is that time of year when a Sunday drive is at its very
best. Put on your best tie and overcoat, or your prettiest dress and take a
drive. Keep the windows down and let your hand catch the wind. The August air
is intoxicating. You could even pack a picnic lunch!
And if your travel brings you home at dusk,
the crickets will greet you.
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