Summer...

Do you remember that feeling, when you were young; the day summer holidays started? Do you remember the rush of throwing away (or as I got older- burning) all your handouts & assignments & papers from the entire year? How about the song? Did you ever sing it?

No more reading

No more books

No more teacher's dirty looks

And then summer would start. I would sleep in. I would walk around barefoot until the calluses on the bottom of my feet grew so strong that I could pick raspberries in the back alley without a limp or a wince. I would sleep outside, under the stars. And I would feel the mosquitoes bite my sunburned skin. I wouldn't read a word or write a letter for the entire 2 months. And even though it was only 2 months, those 2 months felt like an eternity... a blissful barefoot-scraped kneed-dirty fingernailed- eternity. I loved summer. And I still do. 

As I've gotten older I just don't feel the same excitement about things like I used to. Even the things that I care for, or look forward to passionately, I can't muster up that same last-day-of-school-feeling. But luckily, there are moments that remind me. There are smells and tastes, and feelings that are purely summer, and when I experience them I can't help but feel that joyful-freedom-filled-bliss that summer used to be. Here are a few things that throw me back into my mushroom cut-jean short -barefoot self.

• The smell of freshly cut grass, mingled with the charcoaly smell of a burger on a barbie
• Stubbing/scraping my toe on the concrete
• The taste of fresh raspberries
• The taste of rootbeer popsicles
• The taste of carrots, fresh out of the garden... wiped off on my pants, or maybe rinse a little with the hose (preferably the top cut off by my dad's old hunting knife)
• Peas, right out of the pod
• The hot sun on my shoulders, and cold water on my feet
• Heavy summer night air, breathed from the comfort of a sleeping bag

I always felt cliche admitting that my favorite season was summer... but who cares about cliches- I LOVE SUMMER. As a prairie girl I got hot dry summers, with crazy rain storms, and insane mosquitoes. I cooled off in freezing mountain lakes, and built sand castles for frogs in sandy dunes at the edge of lakes that were dug out by men. I know my kids won't have the same summers that I did, but luckily there are a few things that I can still share with them. In fact, Roly and I sat and enjoyed some summer for quite a while yesterday. 

 Ro-Ro enjoying some fresh (Galley Farms) Raspberries. Our bushes this year are kind of pitiful.One day they will grow, and I won't have to PAY to taste summer. 

A great big pea pod from our garden! So delicious. 

Roly loved them. We sat and ate peas for like half an hour. 

I thought it was cute that Roland was clutching a pea pod and a dandelion in his little fist. 

Cheers to Summer.