Summertime

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.


-- Henry James

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Days like today always remind me of my favorite summertime sound - the quiet 'chink' of ice against the side of a glass full of lemonade.  Note:  it's gotta be a glass glass, not a plastic glass.
 
We actually got a bit of rain today.  A teeny tiny bit of rain.  After supper, I went out to water some plants & there was a very fine spray of rain.  It has since passed on.
 
I think my brain is feeling the summertime heat effect - as in it's too hot to think.
Either that or my blood donation from earlier today is resulting in not enough blood to carry oxygen to my brain.  (Just kidding, all you phlebotomists!)
 
People always tell me they can't understand how I can be a regular blood donor.  They HATE needles.  Well, duh!  So do I!  But it's only one needle during a time period that's a minimum of 8 weeks.  I'm especially amused when people who have tattoos make this statement.  Unless that's a temporary tattoo, you've had WAY more needle pricks than I've ever had.
 
Plus, it's the ultimately lazy way to help the community where you live.  You do it once every 8 weeks, you do it lying down, you're giving a resource that's regenerated in a very short period of time, and when you're done they give you juice & cookies.
 
Today, they were earmarking some donations (including mine) for babies (& probably other folks with immune system problems).  It got me to wondering - does blood donation affect the recipient the way organ donation sometimes does?  I've read where people who have received donated organs have later exhibited some characteristics of the donor.  Liking spicy food when the donor didn't like it before.  Craving candy when the donor didn't crave it before.
 
I'm hoping my blood's recipients turn into voracious readers.  Reading anything & everything.  Broadening their minds & horizons.  Delving into the past.  Speculating about the future.
 
Read on!
Papillon