Summer Sounds, Summer Moods

The beginnings of a summer soundtrack. . .

http://listen.grooveshark.com/widget.swf

Summer Tech: Nature vs. Technology

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie –
True Poems flee.
~Emily Dickinson

AxisPortals has been spending a good bit of time involved in extra-technological pursuits this summer:  perched on metal bleachers absorbed in baseball’s eternal dance of swings, slides, stretches, signals, and silences; crouched in gardens planting flowers and pulling weeds; settled quietly outside on cool nights,  head tilted toward the sky where lightning bugs blink high in the trees and bats scribble crazy black paths against the evening’s deepening blues.

AxisPortals has been to the carnival, too–braving Pharoah’s Fury, the Tilt-A-Whirl, and the Sizzler, and reaching once more for youth’s elusive brass ring with a few spins on the carousel.  She let cotton candy dissovle on her tongue, held her arm obediently still as a large but temporary tattoo of a tiger was applied, and gamely toted the assortment of toys won at various “give us three bucks and we’ll give your kid a cheap prize” booths.

Oh, yes.  AxisPortals has been technologically indolent, and has the fading sunburn and the collection of mosquito bites to prove it.

Work must always be tended to, of course, but this little bit of backing away from the various keyboards and virtual connections that sometimes dominate our day-to-day lives seems important.  Even though this bit of flowing with the rhythms of summer does only qualify as a small break–after all, AxisPortals did send several text messages from the carnival, and does tend to have the Blackberry clipped to her waist even while gardening–there’s nonetheless something peaceful and revitalizing about purposefully stepping away from tweets and blogs to dance to summer’s fleeting music.

AxisPortals Aphorism: If you can’t remember what bug spray, sunscreen, or an approaching thunderstorm smell like, back slowly away from your tech, and step outside, into summer’s dance.

Update: Glad to know that AxisPortals isn’t the only one who feels this way.  See “Twitter Slammed by Summer Doldrums”.  (Then, go for a nice summer stroll or swim.)