Halcyon

Photo courtesy of PublicDomainPictures.net

Every week I try to keep a look out for good words to feature here.  Sometimes they will jump out at me from a book I'm reading.  Sometimes I'll hear them in a conversation.  And sometimes I browse through Dictionary.com (or flip through an actual dictionary), to see what words catch my eye. That's what I was doing a few days ago when I spotted the word halcyon, and knew immediately that I wanted to use it this week.  Halcyon [hal-see-uhn] is an adjective meaning "peaceful, joyful, or carefree".

The first thing that popped into my head when my eyes focused on the word was a line from a song:

Because the people who love you are waiting,

and they'll wait just as long as need be.

When we look back and say those were halcyon days,

we're talking about jubilee.

~ Lyrics from "Jubilee",

written by Mary Chapin Carpenter

My second thought was that halcyon is a perfect word to describe summertime. :)

I love the halcyon months of summer, 

filled with time to do whatever my heart desires.

I sat in silence under the fuchsia sky 

watching the doe and her fawn drink from the still lake, 

a halcyon memory I will treasure forever.

How would you use the word halcyon?  What other words come to mind when you think of summertime?