Friday, July 2, 2010

Things I Like About Summer


Killing Flies: I hate flies flitting around. There’s not much I can do about them outside, but woe be the fly who enters my inner sanctum. I get great pleasure in scoring a direct hit with the fly swatter. In August, around the time of the county fair, the fly population in Hermiston increases dramatically. Even with screens on every window and air conditioning, the flies still find a way into our house. The husband and I will occasionally go on a rampage of fly hunting. Only confirmed kills are added to the body count. I think I need to buy a new fly swatter for the upcoming competitions.

Rainbird Sprinklers: The husband and I were Peace Corp volunteers in Nicaragua. We spent three months in Costa Rica in training. The “training center” was an old coffee plantation and the classrooms were converted chicken coops. But, I received some of the best instruction of my life. I learned how to speak Spanish in those dirt floored classrooms. There was still coffee grown on the grounds. When the stress of adapting to a new culture and learning a new language got to me, I could walk the grounds and listen to the wop wop wop brrrrrrrr of the rainbird sprinklers. The sound still takes me back to a simpler time.

BBQ: I don’t like barbecue sauce. What I like is grilled meat, which in some areas of the country isn’t really considered barbecue. I don’t like writing out barbecue. It will always be BBQ to me and it won’t have sauce. There’s not much better than a BBQ hamburger, unless it’s a BBQ steak!

Swimming pools: When I was a kid we had a pool in the backyard and spent many hours swimming with our friends. There were always more kids who wanted to be our friends in the summer. My brother called them “pool pals.”

When my children were small, we had a pool and they spent hours every day swimming. Every summer my daughter’s hair turned green from the chlorine.

Now when I visit my granddaughters we go to the pool every day. It’s hot and humid in Texas and the water is cool and refreshing. The chemistry must be better now because my granddaughters don’t get green hair.

Long Days: As a kid I loved being able to stay outside later and later because it was still daylight. I still love the long days of sunshine. In the summer we can eat dinner in daylight. There’s time at the end of the day to take a bike ride in daylight. It’s even light in the morning, but I’m still not getting up early!

6 comments:

  1. Me encanta recuerdos nostálgicos. Agree completely about the BBQ (I hardly ever write it in full) sauce, ruins the natural flavour of the meat. Our pool was always full of pool pals, what a cool term. Your reflections on Costa Rica, marvelous, can relate to them, like when I lived in the jungle in Peru; 15 hours to walk to town (no roads, no bridges) wonderful time for reflection, especially in the warm jungle rain.

    AV

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  2. I have always wanted a swimming pool, but the management of same seems daunting. And here, where swimming weather lasts, at best, ten weeks, it would be a true luxury item, not worth the cost of installation and maintenance.

    Now the LONG DAYS OF LIGHT!!! I'm with you there 100%!

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  3. I have flies buzzing round my head as I write. I think maybe I should stop using this new 'Cream of Carrion' shampoo.

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  4. I love all these things about summer, too. Actually, there's not much about summer I don't love. It was fun to read your list.

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  5. Ha, I remember going on holiday in my teens, and being MORTIFIED when my hair turned green! Goodness, you volunteered in Nicaragua? (Huge respect, dear lady.)

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  6. I'm right there with you on the BBQ Sauce bleech. My faves are making kabobs like chicken terriyaki, soy glazed salmon etc. I enjoy making my own marinades/glazes because I'm not a fan of the bottled stuff. Plus I'm pretty talented in finding easy & quick recipes. If I see too many ingredients I turtle and move on.

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