A Cold Brewski on a Steamy Bridgewater Afternoon

We returned to Bridgewater from vacation to find the yard a disaster area – broken limbs and branches all over. As a consequence, I found myself cleaning up the mess last Saturday afternoon in the intensity of that hot steamy day. Not wanting to overdo it, I called it quits after about three hours, satisfied that the job could be completed another day.

The work clothing was clearly ready for laundry: my cap’s sweat band was soaked with perspiration; the T-shirt could be mistaken for a wet towel (I went through two!); and my socks came off just as wet and speckled with dirt – all items testimony to a good afternoon’s worth of labor.

There is little like the all-enveloping muggy-hot weather of an August afternoon after completing outdoor chores to call up a thirst for an ice-cold frosty brew. The two bottles of iced tea and one of water which I quaffed while working had not quite done the job.

I pulled a chilled can of beer from the fridge, opened the cabinet door for a Cheese-It snack, stepped outside, plunked my butt down on a patio chair, and approvingly admired the blue of the sky and the bleached white clouds lounging in the background beyond the tree line – a good moment to contemplate the blessing of what nature gives us and for which we don’t even have to ask.

The simplest things can often be the most satisfying.