These things mean summer to me:

Some things on this list are memories and may never happen again. Others are ongoing. A few are new with the intention of carrying forward...

• reading late, late, late into the night
• star-soaked skies viewed far from civilization
• the Tetons: camping, walking, canoeing; buffalo, deer, marmots, bears; skipping rocks and reading in the hammock
• road trips
• the beach
• soaking thunderstorms on August afternoons
• sleeping (and freezing) on top of the water tower
• cold, yummy things on sticks: popsicles and ice cream bars
• books: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury and Dreams of my Russian Summers by Andreï Makine
• five-week classes to take or teach
• smelling like a campfire
• walking my groceries home in the middle of the night
• hours and hours and hours to just listen to music
• season passes to Six Flags - meeting there after work for a few rollercoasters and some barbeque
• sunburns and mosquito bites (it can't all be good)
• riding in the tractor with grandpa or going with the uncles to move sprinkler pipe
• sparklers
• the smell of freshly cut grass
• housecleaning (yeah, I know that probably shouldn't be a seasonal activity...)
• 4-H projects
• Mom sewing new clothes for the next school year
• the garden: herbs, strawberries, squash, tomatos, peas, beans, rhubarb
• running through the sprinklers
• dancing salsa and merengue in the church parking lot
• Dad sneaking downstairs on the morning of the 4th of July to jolt us out of bed playing Stars and Stripes Forever as loud as the boom box would go
• Ferragosto and empty Italian cities
• Las Vegas, St. George, hiking up the Virgin River and floating back down again, the Painted Desert, Lake Powell, Flagstaff, the three mesas of the Hopi reservation, and of course the Grand Canyon - all within reach on a day off at Jacob Lake
• drawing - and maybe this year I'll go get a chunk of clay to play with on the patio.

Summer is good - so vital to have my blood pressure fall a few points for a part of the year, and it is beautiful to recharge and have time to follow a muse. What a lovely time of year.

Alphaville - Forever Young