The Dog Days of Summer!

"DOG DAYS" is the name for the most sultry period of summer, from about July 3 to Aug. 11. Named in early times by observers in countries bordering the Mediterranean, the period was reckoned as extending from 20 days before to 20 days after the conjunction of Sirius (the dog star) and the sun. [Source: Columbia Encyclopedia]

I decided to check out the meaning of "The Dog Days of Summer" just for interest sake and was surprised to learn of this meaningful definition of its origin. The term always brings memories of the hottest part of the summer for me as a child. Biking across town to the beach and returning home for supper so hot that we begged our parents to take us to another beach to cool off for the evening. Now, I just think it means when it is so hot out that the dog just lays around and does nothing... that is how I feel when it gets really hot.

So for whatever meaning comes to mind, we have been experiencing "The Dog Days of Summer" at Wolverton Hills, and yes the dogs have just been laying around doing nothing. Most visitors who stay in our cottage come from a hectic, noisy life in the ‘Big Smoke’ and really want just to lie around and listen to the quiet.

‘Doing nothing’ can be hard work. We have been so stressed out from the rat race always keeping a tight schedule that when given the opportunity ‘Doing nothing’ does not come naturally. It feels foreign and it is often accompanied by pangs of guilt and a sense that you really should be doing something constructive. Your mind races and sitting still becomes uncomfortable. I know because I can speak from experience.

My dear husband, Dan, likes to take credit for teaching me to relax. In our first years of marriage I would wake on Saturday morning making lists for all our five kids and Dan to keep up a busy household. He could see I was stressed and insisted I learn to relax and enjoy the Saturday morning by having our morning coffee in bed and lingering to read the paper and talk. However, usually by noon I jumping out of bed realizing I had just wasted half a day. It took a while, but I gave myself permission to relax a bit.

I don’t stay in bed till noon anymore, but don’t take life so seriously either and am more relaxed & flexible. Windows don’t always shine and there is dust in places that I hope no one notices. Now, I think Dan feels I’m too relaxed. Bur really, there is more to life than house cleaning.

When planning the use of the cottage, I set it up for comfort and relaxation. There is one chair in the cottage if you sit in it, it ‘makes’ you relax. It’s an easy chair that for some strange reason instantly reclines you into a relax position and you have to fight with it to become upright. We could never figure out exactly how to fix it, so we just left if for those to experience it relaxation effect.

Some visitors to the cottage ask how can they become more relaxed to enjoy their stay. I tell them: "just breath". Sit and do some long deep breathing and allow your body and mind to unwind. Focus on a tree or something in the distance and keep breathing deeply. Slowly, but surely your body slows down. Go for walks and stop and admire all the little aspects of nature. Build a fire and watch the flickering flames while listening to the relaxing music in the cottage. Of course my favorite way to help clients relax is mixing a special formula of relaxation essentials oils and give them an aromatherapy massage. Most clients experiencing this float down the hill back to the cottage after a treatment.

Sometimes when you are in a new environment where there is so much to look at it is overwhelming and you do not know where to put your mind. I would just recommend you just ‘be in the moment’ and not try not to think about all the business at home or at work. Find a spot outside whether in the woods or relaxing next to the waters edge and start observing aspects of nature in small frames. Look at a two-foot square on the ground or trees and take note of the colors, shapes, and textures of nature. You might notice little bugs busy at work or a bird feeding it’s young perched on a branch in the bushes. A sound of the kingfisher as it fly’s over the pond. The buzz of the cicadae bugs high in the trees. Remember, it’s all right to do nothing at Wolverton Hills. Just allow nature to do it’s magic and start filling all your senses with the sights, sounds and smells of nature.

Magical things happen when you are silent in nature. Your body and mind relax. A new world opens up to you as you allow other senses to be stimulated when your mind slows down. The smell of the green trees, the feel of the ground and grass under your feet the smoothness of the water as you glide through it swimming.

At night the crickets and the whip-o-will sooth your soul with the songs of the night. The crackling dancing fire stirs something deep in your being and you become one with it. Mother nature envelopes you in her arms as you drift into a peaceful sleep with the sounds of the night drifting in and out of your dreams. All is well with you in the world when you are grounded with Mother Nature.

Children are naturally drawn to nature. Remember when you where a child and your noticed everything around you. You sat in the sand and felt the coolness of the sand between your toes and the silky sensation of the sand as you poured it over your arms and legs. The refreshing feeling of the water as you walk at the waters edge. Frogs start to sing and come out from hiding when you sit next to their favorite spot. And if they let you, you catch one to inspect it more thoroughly. Minnows curiously come to check your toes, which you bottled up and planned to take home to your aquarium - but mom say no. Your imagination sees sheep or fluffy bears in the big white floating clouds overhead in an animated story. Days are endless and bare feet are never very clean in the summer.

We all still have that child in us. It’s ok to let your child out and be curious again and relax amongst Mother Nature as one of her children. Someday, my family wonders about me, as I still bring home things in bottles to examine and to research in my books. A forgotten specimen jar containing the leathery shell of a turtle’s egg, a cicada’s nymph casing, and deer scat was found by a visitor as she was looking at my books. She shrieked with horror when she saw the jar with what she called "Creepy things in it!"

One day my neighbor came by for a visit and almost past out when she saw a little snake in a jar in the kitchen. She has a phobia about snakes and could not understand anyone would have one in a jar... especially in the kitchen. I had determined it was a Northern Red Belly baby snake and was quite intrigued by it’s color. I later let it go outside because in my mind I could hear my mother saying, "No you can’t keep the snake, especially in the house". Even though I live at Wolverton Hills everyday, there is always something new to see or learn and I never tire of it.

I enjoy doing pottery and look to nature with all it’s colors and texture to inspire me. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all this nature and feel a bit stuck. During a seminar I attend I had a eureka moment. The speaker was an artist who lived on an island on the beautiful west coast of BC, found himself overwhelmed by all the beauty around himself and could not do his work. He said, "Sometimes you need to negotiate with nature to come to terms with it". I didn’t really understand what he meant, but I knew that it was true and that is what I felt. I asked him later what he meant and he said sometimes like, you can’t take in all of nature at once so you limit yourself to some of your experiences in nature to a bit at a time and then you have a better appreciation for it and capture those moments better in nature in your work. However, you need to give yourself permission to do this as sometimes there seems so much to take in you feel guilty for not appreciating it more. For example you may find a place in the woods and return there many times to study or experience that area of nature instead of walking endlessly in the woods. You begin to notice many things that you had not noticed before when you just walked by it.

I find nature comes out to greet you and you feel like you are part of the experience. Lichen and moss invite you to touch them. Textures can be contrasting and you notice shades of green you have never seen before. You are in the moment and all is well with you and the world.

Remember to enjoy ‘the lazy hazy dog days of summer’, at Wolverton Hills. Be in the moment, enjoy the bounties of nature, and let the little child in you come out to play….cause the dogs are too hot to play.

Your Host,
Debbie White