It’s July!  Is summer arriving or leaving?  I always thought it was summer as long as school was out.  At one time, the summer school holiday was when “child labor” was needed on the farm.  It was a time when everyone in a farm family had a job. 

Did you ever work on a farm?  Did you walk behind a mule or horse that was pulling a plow?  Very few of our generation did.  If anything, you were driving a tractor.  My husband loaded boxes of freshly picked peaches into a wagon pulled by big grey mules when he was in high school.  Hearing about his experience with mules inspired the creation of the six mules the rustlers tried to take in my book Trouble In Texas: A Summer Adventure.

Which brings us back to July – a time for watermelon harvest in northeast Texas and the annual watermelon festival in Naples, Texas, the weekend of July 26.  If you’re going to be in the area, be sure to stop by.  Not only are delicious watermelons available, but you can go to the rodeo, visit a variety of food and craft booths, and see the parade.  Any or all of these experiences make good memories.

Store away those good memories to bring out on a rainy day. Share them with someone else.  You’ll both feel better.

 Until We Meet Again,

  Mary Nolan Brown