the soothing sounds of summer

In a washed-up bottle on the beach

If I could bottle up the sounds of summer and send it over the ocean waves to someone who has never heard the soothing sounds of the South on a sultry June day I would. I’d take an old green glass Coke bottle and layer in the repetitive thrum of a lawnmower cutting the grass, the gentle tinkle of back porch wind chimes, the whine of an airplane overhead, the watery splash of the pool filter, and birds and cicadas singing their summer songs. These sounds layered together soothe my southern soul. If I could, I would.

What sounds like summer to you? If you could, what sounds would you fill your bottle with before slipping it into the sea to let Gulf Stream take it where it wills?

P.S. One of my summer goals is to have Danielle and I bottle some messages and send them via the sea; how have we lived this near the Gulf of America and yet have never done this?! Have any of y’all dropped a bottle into the ocean or found one on the shore? Please let me know!