Summer arrives in a flash

I joked that I needed an exercise video called “Buns of Steel” because I was on my bicycle on the bumpy, gritty Franklin County roads of early spring and felt every bump.

One day you are dodging doggedly stubborn snow banks and the next day, the air is filled with the scent of lilacs.

This weekend, I felt things shift gears. I didn’t smell any lilacs, but I did notice the daffodils and my suddenly busy calendar.

Saturday morning, I ventured over to Wachmeister Field Station at St. Lawrence University to catch the start of Nature Up North’s 7K trail run.

I couldn’t hang around for the finish because I wanted to get to Rensselaer Falls to get some pictures of the St. Lawrence County Youth Bureau’s Trash Dash litter cleanup.

I grabbed those pix and had to rush home because I had a car in my driveway with a flat tire.

I should have mentioned the flat tire initially, but I have been trying to forget it all week.

I noticed the flat tire shortly after my wife left for work and too late for me to do anything and still make it to my assignments.

So, we shuffled the keys and cars and everybody got to where they were going.

I don’t often change tires, but I needed to get the flat tire off and the fake spare tire on and get the car to the garage to fix the flat.

They must have changed cars some, since I was a lad, because it is more challenging than it used to be. When did tires get that heavy?

Sunday was filled with activity too. And, suddenly, it was Monday.

As I write this, I am looking out the window to my backyard, filled with all the work I didn’t get to. I feel a sort of tension in my stomach, which is my gut’s way of telling me I am afraid that summer will end soon and I will still have all this work to do.

I am not complaining. A busy weekend is a blessing.

I have fond memories of lying on the cool floor of my parents’ house in the summer and spending an entire Saturday reading a book. Was I foolish to let a whole day pass by like that, or was I just an arrogant kid thinking time wasn’t something you could waste when it obviously went on forever?

I expect to smell the lilacs any day now and I hope it happens when I am rushing off somewhere to do something.

Tom Graser is the editor of the St. Lawrence Plaindealer. He once had two flats on one bicycle ride and ended up using a dollar bill to fix a hole in his tire. You should always carry some cash.