It is nearly ten pm and it is still very hot here in my house. My forearms are sweating against the table. The air is perfectly still. The dogs are sprawled with their bellies exposed to the air, hoping for a breath of cool. In a little while, CR and I will retreat to the basement and what we call the summer bedroom. It is heaven to sleep there.
It has been quite hot in Colorado, and much worse elsewhere. In these dog days of summer, it is hard to remember all the things that are so great about the long hot days of July and August. Why we look forward to them all year, and in my quest to be in the moment, here are 20 things I love about summer.
1. The smell of tomato plants, hot in the sun
2. Fresh berries
3. Watermelon cut into cubes in a bowl in the fridge
4. Reading all day because it is too hot to do anything else
5. Movie dates in the air conditioning
6. The nutty brown of my forearms
7. Barbeques
8. Birds singing and singing and singing at all times of day, even in the still of the night (“Blackbirds singing…)
9. Flipflops
10. The whiskey barrel full of evening primrose and sage against the fence
11. The laughter of the girls next door playing outside all afternoon
12. The sound of sprinklers coming on
13. Hiking all day with my friends then going to drink beer and eat without guilt
14. Going to Manitou Springs and eating saltwater taffy
15. My mother’s deeply shaded backyard in Pueblo, with a tables full of family gathered beneath the trees
16. Pellegrino with ice and one key lime squeezed into it
17. Long walks in the long evening
18. Crickets
19. The astonishing moon, rising in the east like a spaceship
20. Staying barefoot all the time
What do you love about summer?
Right now summer seems a long way away, so soak up yours before you come downunder : )
But things I love when it is warm….
Huge harvest moons
Blue, blue skies
Gelato in decandent flavours
Drinking margaritas at night under the open sky with friends
Escaping into the cool after
The smell of the beach
You cannot even imagine how I will love leaving the hot, hot, hot part of August to go to winter! 🙂
Margaritas! Oh, yes.
It’s funny timing for this post because I said to Sean today that while I like not being drenched in sweat and feeling miserably hot, I do miss some of the fun that comes with the heat. We’ve had weather of 65 with a light breeze all summer and I do miss some of the shared experiences from heat. Like popicles. And pool parties. And the relief of a shady spot.
Oh my God, what do I love about summer…
EVERYTHING!!!
Let’s see… I was born in the summer, in the middle of it no less, and I feel as if I am summer-kissed, most of the time. My arms are brown, my face is probably weathered but no matter…I love summer.
I love a cold watermelon, left for hours under ice in the big cooler. So cold, so wet, so sweet…It even smells like summer and sunshine and fresh mowed grass. I spit the seeds out as if I was 8 years old once again and still on my grandparents’ farm in Mondovi, WI. Such good times, there.
Here are some more:
Dining al fresco, with a bright table cloth (blue and yellow, how French country) and so many candles and sunflowers in the middle of the table, I love summer.
Wearing next to nothing in my own back yard, soaking up the sun, watching for butterflies and bees, examining my butterfly bushes and my phlox and foxglove and daylilies…and reading a book with my sunglasses perched low on my face, smelling like a coconut (coconut oil, that is).
I love summer. Here in Missouri, summer can be so humid, it’s as if you are breathing water into your lungs al the time. Not like MN, not one bit. I hate the humidity. I have to stop and say, hey, what is my ideal summer.
This is it.
I remember being probably 14, and my parents took us up to Lake Alexandria, MN, in the summer, to a lake cabin owned by a couple my father knew from somewhere or another…We fished. I cannot remember in my entire life a lake more clear, clear to the bottom, or fish more tasty…We panfried them on a fire on the beach, next to the dock. Oh, the cabin…I remember the books, magazines, the newspapers everywhere, in that cabin. Big windows. View of the beach. Comfortable, worn furniture. Rustic, but functional, kitchen. I was sooo at home. I savor that weekend always,I try to recreate it with my own children…
Back to summer in Spfd, MO. I go, every Saturday, to the Farmers’ Market, searching for fresh melons, egg plant, green beans, potatos, peaches and blueberries. Whatever I find, I am enchanted and challenged to find a new recipe to accomodate. This is summer to me. I am a produce freak. Cannot help it, will not even try to. I love melons, green beans, eggplant, corn, whatever. I am a nut for it. I don’t even mind standing in line. At least I get the chance to observe the flowing and enlarging lines of Spfd, Mo. I didn’t used to see saris and bright colors and fabric hiding one’s face. I wasn’t used to hearing any language besides my own, bartering along side me and now I hear it all the time. It’s charming to me…very peaceful.
So much more could be said, I’m sure but I am feeling as if I am ready for repose and yes, even slumber…
More to come later, be assured…
HB, I always think of you and your post once about humidity giving you a hug. 🙂 My idea of heaven is SF, but Christopher Robin agrees with you.
Yvonne, ooh, that was a delicious ode! It makes me want to get to the farmer’s market tonight. Produce is definitely one of the pluses of summer. I’ve been putting frozen blueberries in my sparkling water, along with the key lime.
one more comment and then I’ll shut up.
First of all, I happen to love summer. I was born in mid-summer; how could I not love summer?? Thing is, I was born and raised (mostly) in a dry summer climate. I am now in Missouri, a mostly humid, strangling climate, which I do not appreciate at all. I don’t see this wet air as a hug, no, I do not. I see it more as a strangle hold that simply sucks the energy out of my soul..
Now. Having said that, I do still love summer. I love my garden, I love my herbs, and I love being outdoors, even when my upper lip is drenched for no apparent reason at all and my hair is sticking to my forehead.
This morning, as is my habit most Saturdays in the summer, I ventured out to the farmers’ market in Springfield, Mo. I love the farmers’ market. The corn crop hasn’t been as good this year because of all the rain but still, I found some good sweet corn. I also brought home a cantelope, new potatoes, tomatoes, blackberries and a bunch of sunflowers AND some green peppers. Let me tell you, I thought I knew green peppers from the grocery store. Not so, now I know.
I boiled and blanched my peppers and then stuffed them with a mixture of hamburger, onions, garlic, tomato sauce, cheese, cooked rice, tomatoes, cumin, salt and pepper and garlic, and I baked them for about 25 minutes at 375°. Very nice. It was more a gentle flavor, not that in your face grocery store variety. Not sharp, just really, REALLY nice.
Fresh produce – I just can’t do without it. We all think about Quality of Life. This is part of it for me. So, I thought I’d mention it and now, I’ll be quiet. I’ve got some fresh blackberries calling my name anyway….
Thanks.