The featured image lends itself to romance or mystery.

I was in a little hillside park that overlooks Bar Harbor, Maine when I took the picture. During the day, tour buses bring hundreds of tourists to the area and park at the foot of the hill. Also, there may be as many as three large cruise ships anchored in the harbor and they run shuttle boats back and forth throughout the day. The little park is a good place to sit and rest one's tired feet. It isn't unusual to hear one or more musicians sitting on the grass, or on a bench, strumming a guitar.

You may think of sitting on your own porch on "Summer Nights", or maybe you'll think about "Summer Nights" at the ocean, or at the lake. Whatever the case, I hope you'll be inspired to write. Fiction or fact, we look forward to your entry.

The sun is sinking in the West
The lights begin to glow
Fireflies flitting here and there
Add to the Summer show


The children are scurrying home
They heard their mother say
When the sky grows dim and the lights come on
That's the end of your playtime day


The earth is quietly settling in
For another night of rest
Parents looking forward to the darkness
The time that they like best


Another day of busyness and work
Behind us, and we pray
Let us be safe throughout the night
Fresh for another day



Joy3032

Just a small town square,
Just small town fare, and the smell of Honeysuckle in the air.


Local bandstand quiet now in the blackness of night.
Just a few hours earlier what a wonderful sight.


Instruments poised in the air ready to play.
Locals sitting on the grass waiting with hearts light and gay.


The first clear notes waft over the humid summer air,
And what lovely memories make, this small town fare.


There’s Johnny and Robert from the high school band.
Susan sits first chair clarinet on the stand.


Moms and Dads are proud as can be.
Aunts and Uncles have come out to see.


Molly sits with her French horn in her lap.
Jack, a first grade teacher, can’t help but his toes tap.


Mrs. Thatcher leans out her dress shop window to hear her favorite march,
And Bob sits in front of the Barber Shop to watch.


An enchanted evening for ordinary folks,
As they pass around the popcorn and the Cokes.

Summer nights in Meriden, CT, where I was born and raised, were warm and fun. I can picture my playmates and I out on an early evening after a warm rain. We'd don bathing suits and run through the puddles, laughing and screaming all up and down the street. In my day, there wasn't any pollution in the water to worry about.

Sometimes, my 2 brothers and I would be sitting on the front porch, just watching the day grow dimmer. We'd hear the bells ringing down the street that the Good Humor man was on his way. We'd run inside begging our mother for a dime to buy an ice cream on a stick. (I think it was a dime!!) When we had our way, we'd run out the front door and stop the Good Humor man, in his white truck, from going any further. There he was, in his clean, white uniform and white hat, doling out ice cream cones or sticks to the neighborhood children. I always bought a fudgecicle or a chocolate ice cream with chocolate on top. (by now, you must know I favored chocolate..lol!)Sometimes, Mom would get one too..but she favored toasted almond.

Warm summer nights brought out the fireflies. Where are they today? We'd catch them in our backyard and trap them in canning jars whose lids we had punched holes in so that they could breath. But, they died anyway because we didn't know what they ate..lol.

When it grew dark, and we were tucked in our beds, Mom & Dad would sit on the glider on the front porch and watch the moon rise over the hill not far from our home.

How those memories of warm summer nights fill me with longing for times gone by.

There’s magic in a summer night! Spring planting is done and time has come to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Grab a chair and sit on the porch or the deck. Spread a blanket on the lawn, lie on your back, look up at the stars and search the sky for the big dipper. Chances are that before long you will be humming the old song, “Glow Worm” as you watch fire flies begin their nocturnal flight!.

The many, many summer nights of my long life have been enriched by the beauty and whimsy of night-blooming flowers. My fascination with them goes back to my childhood. In the summer all around the yard there were red and white bushes of four-o’clocks. Like “clock work” they bloomed when the sun began its descent in the western sky. They had a pungent, spicy fragrance. They were like old friends. Aunt Freda had a special love for, and was gifted with raising, night-blooming cactus. When it was evident that blooms were ready to burst I was allowed to stay up and watch them open. They perfumed the night–always a special occasion. The wondrous late-night blossoms were always closed and limp by morning, their mystery taken with them, but the night’s memory lingered on.

Currently, my personal harbinger of summer is my annual crop of lemon yellow night-blooming primroses which light the night! By Midsummer Night they are in full bloom. If you watch closely you can see that there are nocturnal insects that come out and feed and pollinate on them. It’s like they are working the night shift. Mother Nature works around the clock!