I don’t know about where you live, but where I live this week it was the first week of summer vacation but it’s been cold and rainy all week. Don’t get me wrong, I love a rainy day. But I’m ready for some summer sun and some summer fun. Maybe if we chat about summer today at Segullah we can will it to be summer already. Are you game?
It’s contagious really. That burst of freedom that surges out of the classroom doors as the students escape on the very last day of school. I remember how it felt as a child. Almost instantly I could feel the wind on my face. I would my goodbyes and rush toward home–without giving the school a second look–anxious to embrace the long summer days ahead.
Of course these days it’s not quite the same for me. The kids are off, at least until the older ones find a job. The school-teaching husband is off (for about six weeks), at least until some sweet widow or single mother or elderly couple in the neighborhood needs sprinklers redone. But Monday is just another workday for me. It doesn’t matter. I still feel and embrace that sense of freedom–the almost carelessness (in the good sense of the word)–of summer. I’ll continue to spend almost every night (except Sunday) at the ball park. And after work on most days I’ll go hang out with a friend and we’ll watch our kids play together. On some days we’ll even be spontaneous and throw together a BBQ. And if I try hard enough I will be able to almost convince myself I don’t have a care in the world.
Here are some of my favorite things about summer:
–the cool that finally arrives in the late of the night
–playful laughter I can hear out my bedroom window (an open invitation to the coolness) long after dark
–early mornings of light
–vine-ripened tomatoes
–the scent of DEET–it reminds me of two of my favorite childhood memories: spending summer days on my Grandpa’s ranch in Randolph and going camping with my Dad
–tossing any semblance of a routine out the door
–cherry season. peach season, roadside vegetable stand season
–the lullaby of crickets
–driving with the windows down and my arm hanging out of the car
–any excuse at all to make homemade ice cream
–not having to nag about homework
–sleeping with the windows open
–breakfast, lunch and/or dinner out on my back deck
–a complete disregard for bedtimes
–the smell of sunscreen–it reminds me of countless hours I used to spend poolside (back in the day I would get within a ten-mile radius of a swimsuit)
–happy daisies, ever-blooming impatiens and sweet-smelling roses
–the relief of water, in any shape or form
–waking up with the birds
–savoring the aroma and taste of grilled anything
–freshly picked corn on the cob, cooked and slathered with butter, salt and pepper so generously that it runs down your chin
What are your favorite things about summer?
You covered it quite nicely……
the town celebrations and the unity it brings, camping and campfires, ball parks, moving the lovesacs outside and watching movies on the back of the house.
swimming in outdoor pools, waking up with the sun, and a big ditto to so much of what you wrote.
Great post!!
ripe watermelon, the smell of freshly cut grass, sunscreen and chlorine (pool smells to me), relaxed BBQs, the smell of pines in the mountains, not having to go anywhere…
As a teen it meant massive desert lightning and thunderstorms, and flash floods that could literally pick your car up and flush it down the road. Summer is birthday season around here. May, July and August. My kids are desperate for warmer weather–it will maybe hit 60 today and we’ve had water park passes for at least 3 weeks and haven’t gone once yet. Maybe if I make some ice cream that will get the heat here.
This being the first summer I have not worked full time since I was 15, my favorite thing is just being able to live it.
Others…
My convertible
Seven Peaks with The Princess
Eating out on my deck
Gardening (I never thought I would say that)
Outdoor grilling
The sun on my face
No crazy schedules to contend with.
Days at the beach.
Dirty kids that need to bathe every night.
Sleeping outside.
Sunshine.
Warmth
As a kid, I lived less than a block from the beach, so the summer was all about sunscreen, sand, bonfires, and sleeping on the porch.
Things I love now include long road trips, walking barefoot, fresh corn, fresh watermelon, fresh peaches, homemade ice cream, strawberry cake (wow, I guess I like to eat!), and not setting my alarm clock!
Daylight at 9:00 pm
Avocados
Beach vacations
Less traffic
Heading to Michigan to escape the Texas heat
Spending time in our pool with my toddlers
I think you covered it; I’m trying to figure out how to enjoy summer again. We’ve been students for our whole marriage (almost 7 years), so summer usually means a frantic struggle to find income to carry us through until the next school year. Two years ago my hubby spent the whole summer working 70 hour weeks. But this year we get an entire month to visit family so I’m looking forward to barbeques, swimming, eating watermelon and fresh peaches, and soaking up the sun. Especially because today is 50 degrees and raining here!
camping… and all that goes with it — s’mores, campfire smells, crickets, green
And this year, just sitting on my porch watching my kids play is the greatest joy I could imagine.
Dalene: Your grandpa had a ranch in Randolph? How weird. Thats where my Dad is from. Who was your grandpa? Maybe we know each other, and just don’t know it! :>)
My favorite things about summer are sunscreen, the smell of firepits, the smell of chlorine from my pool, waking to singing birds, cicadas singing, fireflys!!! (oh how I miss those fireflys!) and no schedule what.so.ever!
Summer means Girls Camp, Youth Conference, and High Adventure Camp - by the time most of them are done it’s time to get ready for school again.
There are some flavors that I dearly love - corn on the cob cooked on the grill, fresh blueberries, a good summer tomato… in fact fresh produce period.
A wonderful sea breeze early in the morning before the tourists are out of bed. Sometimes summer is the best time to be a morning person.
Thanks - I needed that to remind me why I like summer in the midst of the heat (sorry, we DO have some already).
My absolute favorite thing about summer is how happy my kids are. We get to hang out together, or sit around reading books, or they can go for random walks/bike-rides/ripsticking trips. We still have plenty going on: I’m still teaching voice, the kids have ballet, swimming, girls’ camp, and youth conference. One daughter is in a show at the SCERA. There are random days one of us will be gone all day working on an independent film. The girls will be going to the Oregon coast with their dad, and to Australia with me. It will be a full summer, but full of the stuff we love, and no homework, no forced projects. We research what we’re curious about whenever we feel like it. I wish it could be summer all the time.
b.–Movie night on the back of the house? I’m so there!
Wendy–I love waking up with the sun. I get so much more done that way. And thanks!
Rynell–You’ve put me in the mood to go camping. (Well, maybe I’ll wait till it’s a bit warmer. My daughter is going to girls’ camp next week and last I heard the camp still have seven feet of snow in some parts.)
elizabeth-w–oh the thunderstorms. I am both afraid and attracted at the same time. Hope the ice cream works–kind of like washing your car in hopes of rain?
sue-d–I need a ride in your convertible. Don’t you think?
Tiffany–I need a beach, too. Wednesday I cleaned the winter accumulation of junk off my deck in anticipation of summer sleep-overs.
Shelah–Going barefoot? Yes! (A nod to our friend Jennifer B.)
Rhonda–We hope to do a beach vacation this summer, but the Oregon coast is definitely more coast than beach. I’m not complaining. I love the sand squishing up between my bare toes.
Foxy J–Enjoy our month off. I hope every second is fabulous!
Justine–and that campfirey smell that gets on everything–even in your kids hair? Love it!
themotherboard–(and I are practically cousins–no, I think we really are cousins!) You’ve inspired me. I don’t know when or how, but I’m determined to go somewhere where I can see some fireflies.
Mommom–I agree with you about summer mornings. I am getting so much more done these days and enjoying both the quiet and the coolness.
Daredevil Mom–Oregon and Australia. Sounds heavenly. Send me a postcard (from Australia)?
summer is such a feast for the senses and the soul.
-sitting out the deck under the stars at my aunts beach house while my husband plays guitar.
-mini ice cream cones with sticky melty chocolate ice cream
-forgetting about new england winters
-strawberry pie
-nightswimming
BQ’s, family parties, parades, staying up late playing with my kids, sleeping in, watermelon to name a few.
• cotton bed sheets dried on a clothesline
• evening bike rides along the river trail
• walking to Maverick for pile-your-own frozen yogurt
• the 4th of July
• the farmers’ market
• heirloom tomatoes
• a quieter campus (we treat it like our personal park till the students come back)
• getting misted by other people’s sprinklers
• light, light, and more light
• the occasional summer storm
• outdoor music