Magic Summer Glitter

I've been thinking a lot about what summer means and what makes summer feel like SUMMER.  So here's my list of things, sort of the magic ingredients, the magic glitter if you will, that makes it all come together and feel like the season of our dreams and memories .  What makes your summer SUMMER?  Here's my current list....

1. Eating ice cream outside.  Even more magic glitter if you wait in line for it and it drips down your arm as you eat it. 
2. Berry picking.  You know, a big hot field , cobwebs in your face, a bucket, eating while you pick.  Overhearing dumb conversations and moms yelling at their kids.  Taking the berries home for waffles, jam, muffins, pies, shortcake, tarts, pancakes, syrup, eating.  
3. River wading.  Cold water, rocks, the sound of water moving along, sunlight dappling the pebbles, a wet dog or two.
4. Cooking hot dogs on sticks. a campfire. smoke in your face.  Bun, what bun?
5. Road trips.  anywhere. Cooler full of drinks, bags of food.  Traffic.  windows down.
6. Reading list. Books all over.  sand and food crumbs between the pages. Reading one more hour 'til you finish even though it's after midnight.
7. Summer fruits.  Peaches, plums, cherries, melons.  Waffles , jam, muffins, pies, shortcake, tarts, pancakes, syrup, eating.
8. Flowers.  Sunflowers in particular, all over in big vases.  The little bugs that come in with them. Petals on the counter tops.
9. Fireworks.  not just on July 4th.  But that box of left over ones from every year you've ever bought them.  On a Tuesday, or a Sunday.  Just because you have fireworks and a lighter. 
10. My birthday. August.  presents, cake, beer, candles, fireworks, flowers, eating ice cream outside.  watching JAWS.    

    

    My favorite flowers

    
    

    

    a previous road trip to Portland OR

    
    

    

    Fireworks and a mountain view

Summer Reading

Every summer I pick a pile of books and get reading.  I give myself a guideline of choosing one book from 5 different categories:  bestseller, nonfiction, classic literature, a random title and a sci fi book.  In the past I chose books that often only met one requirement....easy reading on a coast to coast airplane trip.  (I've read every single one of Daniel Silva's spy novels because of that!)  Some of the non-fiction have been biographies, Agassi's Open, or Alberto Salazar's life story, 14 Minutes.  And I also like history so Nathaniel Philbrick's books have been a lot of fun. In the Heart of the Sea,  the tragedy of the whaleship Essex, was my favorite!  I am a big fan of Haruki Murakami, (1Q84 wasn't a book as much as a place I visited, LOVED it) and I also have read the entire Virga series by Karl Schroeder.  I have two standbys that I usually drag out and reread again and again, Melville's Moby Dick and Kate Chopin's The Awakening. I've got my books ready, in fact have already read 3 books and here it is only June 25!  I've got the perfect place to read too....

This pile of books

that hammock

current read

Do you like to curl up with a good book?  Got a favorite beach read?  Summer reading, it's one of my "summer magic glitter" ingredients.....Cheers!