Relaxing into the Dog Days of Summer

Relax . . . Rinse . . . Repeat

I just did a deep cut into the meaning behind the “dog days” of summer. It has to do with the annual reappearance of the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius (also known as the Dog Star). The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that this caused heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. Hmmmmm.

I’m definitely feeling a bit lethargic these days. The business is in a slow period, with orders trickling in instead of streaming in. Excitement over the summertime peach cobblers, fruit crisps, and berry-cherry-mango-coconut baked goods has died down. Part of me feels like I need to punch the accelerator again and get orders going, and part of me just wants to sit on the couch, eat potato chips, and watch old seasons of The Amazing Race.

Getting back to Sirius and the dog days, it’s nice to know that a certain amount of summertime laziness is baked into the human condition. It’s not that I’m a lazy person; rather, humans are simply meant to slow down during this time of year.

At the same time, all this slowness is allowing some important internal work to occur. My brain is marinating some ideas for future fall baking: a fika cookie box with Swedish cookies such as jam caves, chocolate balls, butter cookies, and Finnish sticks; apple crisp and Swedish apple cake; pumpkin bread with cranberries; maple oat scones with a maple glaze. I can feel myself gathering myself up for another creative burst of energy, even if the time has not yet come.

It turns out that important “work'“ is actually happening after all, just on the inside. If I worked at breakneck speed all the time, this couldn’t happen, and my creativity would gradually disappear. Baking would become rote, routine work, and that would be sad. Fika Bakeshop is intended to be personal, intimate, creative — that’s what makes this tiny business so much fun!