As summer leaves us, why not indulge in a bit of etymology & a few celebratory quotes about summer? 

Summer comes to English from Sanskrit. It appeared in English in 825, meaning exactly what it does today & spelled sumur. Interestingly, summer is etymologically related to the word gossamer, which came to English in the early 1300s, from a marriage of the words goose & summer, & meant spider threads spun in fields of stubble in late fall. Etymologists theorize that the spider silk looked a bit like goose feathers. Hmm. Within a century, gossamer found its present meaning, of light, flimsy, or delicate.

Here are some authors’ thoughts about summer. 

“Summer's lease hath all too short a date.” 
   -Shakespeare

”There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart."
   -Celia Thaxter

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” 
  -F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Come with me,' Mom says.
To the library. 
Books and summertime
go together.”
  -Lisa Schroeder

“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.”
  -Henry David Thoreau

"Summertime and the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high,
Your mama’s rich and your daddy’s good-looking
So hush little baby, don’t you cry"
   -DuBose Heyward, music by George Gershwin

So, good followers, what say you about summer?


My thanks go out to this week’s sources, Etymoniline.com, Goodreads & the OED.

For a change of pace, I’d like to celebrate a writer, generally fascinating chap & certifiable mensch.

Isaac Bashevis Singer once wrote, “When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer.”

He wrote countless short stories & any number of novels, some arguably memoir. Many of his stories featured holocaust survivors &/or the struggles & joys of the lives of Jews & searchers. Miraculously, Singer spent all those years pondering sadness, disappointment, torture, inequity & cruelty, yet managed to hold onto hope. He won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature, two National Book Awards, countless other awards, & the love of many readers.

A smattering of Singer wit & wisdom follows:
“If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.” 

“The waste basket is the writer's best friend.” 

“There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is.” 

“For those who are willing to make an effort, great miracles and wonderful treasures are in store.” 
​
“Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life.” 

​On that last note, followers, please chime in with one kind thing someone has done for you lately.

My thanks go out to this week’s sources, The Library of America & Goodreads