Summer is here in full force. Oh, I know it has been for a while, but it seems that I have just taken notice. (The official first day of summer was June 21.)
One of my favorite things to do in spring or fall is to go camping – as you all know if you’ve read my column a time or two. One of my least favorite things to do in summer is tent camp. It’s just too hot. We tried it a couple of weeks ago; loading up all the gear and our little family found a spot over on Enid Lake. We were miserable during the high temperatures of the day, and not so comfortable at night. On one day, I cranked the car, turned the air up high, loaded the grandbabies into their seats and just drove around for two hours while they napped in cool comfort. Let’s just say that we won’t be tent camping in the summer heat like that again.
Another favorite thing about summer is all the fresh vegetables from the garden. The hubs and I didn’t plant a garden this year. We lollygagged around and didn’t plan well, then just decided not to fool with it. Regrets.
Two years ago, we had a decent garden of about 20 tomato plants of several different varieties, squash and zucchini plants, cucumbers and some okra. It produced many fine meals that we enjoyed. Now mind you, our garden was nothing to look at — full of weeds at times — but it was something to be proud of nonetheless.
Now I will just rely on the farmer’s market for my fresh tomatoes — my favorite food in the whole world. And we always benefit some from my daughter and son-in-law’s summer garden. They have already gifted us some cucumbers.
My son-in-law, Ryan, is a superior gardener. His dad and granddad taught him well. He plants a huge garden each year and usually has great success with it. He had some trouble with his tomatoes last year, but I’m hoping for a better yield for him this time. He is a hard worker and dedicates his time to all kinds of outdoor projects when he gets home from work. For quite some time, he had been tending to a crop of chickens in a really nice coop that he built — keeping us all supplied with fresh eggs when they were so expensive at the store. Since the garden is so much work, he decided to sell the chickens. After all, there must be some time left for his favorite summer activity, which is fishing.
The grands enjoy playing outdoors during summer. The older two have been busy these last couple of weeks playing T-ball at Rosebloom’s community ballfield while the littlest one looks on through the fence. Always after the game, they get to cool off with an ice cold Popsicle. That just screams summer, doesn’t it?
The older two have also been taking swimming lessons in Grenada. We have only been in the pool twice so far, because the water needs to reach 85 degrees or above for me to be comfortable. The grands don’t seem to mind the cooler temperatures at all. Hopefully, time will allow us many more days to frolic in the pool before school starts back.
We will be visiting my sister soon to celebrate the 4th of July holiday. She has a lovely backyard with a really nice swimming pool. There is hope that her water will be warmer than mine, as she doesn’t have any trees shading her pool.
When we are hanging out at the pool during the weekend, I see boats being pulled on trailers on the highway near our house — no doubt heading to or coming from the lake. We are blessed to have great lakes with fun activities so near to us.
I’ve seen children in our community out riding their bikes and playing at the playgrounds, enjoying their time off from school.
I’ve also seen children visiting the snowcone shack for one of those delicious, icy cold treats. My grands love them!
I have lived vicariously through all my friends on social media ... traveling on vacation to the beach, to the mountains, and even to Italy. The photos you all post are fantastic and make the rest of us long to be where you are able to go.
And of course, what would summer be without enjoying some good, cold watermelon? I hope you have found one. I’ve bought from several different places. So far, they have just been OK — nothing spectacular. I prefer the seedless ones. After watching too many short videos on social media on how best to pick out a watermelon or how best to cut a watermelon, it can surely make you crave one, only to be disappointed when it is not as sweet as you think it’s going to be.
There are about six weeks until school starts back, and those weeks will fly by. I hope you enjoy them, doing all the things you love to do with those you enjoy spending time with.
Happy summer!
