Here’s my list.
1. Ice Cream
http://www.creolecreamery.com/
Any excuse to eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is fine by me, and the start of summer provides just enough motivation for me to get out of the office at 3 in the afternoon to walk over to Marble Slab, or throw on enough clothes at 11 on Tuesday night to drive out to the Tastee Freeze (mmmmm, and they’re open until midnight), or dust off the ice cream maker for the best peach ice cream ever made (email me if you want to the recipe – but don’t wait too long or you’ll need the one for blackberry ice cream instead!) I don’t discriminate much when it comes to ice cream. I can do anything from froyo, to the cheap stuff, to vanilla with mix-ins, to B&J. And I can do it in a freshly made waffle cone, or I can do it straight from the limp, disintegrating gallon container on my couch. Whatever the vehicle, whatever the flavor, I’m sure to be eating as much as I can in the summer.
2. Long Days and Great Sunsets
I used to live in Memphis, home of the most gorgeous sunsets you will ever see, so like with BBQ, I got a little spoiled in my time there. So when summer rolls around, I always look forward to enjoying the long, hot days, and the inevitable beautiful sunset that comes with them. Now, I’m the first to admit, it’s a little hard to get a good view when you’re at 2800 feet surrounded by 6000 foot high mountains, but lucky for me I’m on the road plenty during this time of year, so I’m guaranteed to get at least one or two good sunsets. The picture above is from near Carmel in CA. I would have included one from Memphis, but they all include a shot of me sweating profusely. Mmmm, Memphis.
3. Baseball Season
Anyone who knows me knows I LOVVVE me some baseball. Men in tight pants, hot dogs, beer, and sunshine. Oh, and ice cream. Nothing goes together better. If you’ve never had the experience of sitting in a stadium on a weekDAY afternoon, watching a game, drinking a beer, and not being at work, I recommend it for everyone. A good park to check out is Citizen’s in Philly. Or PNC – just ask GF.
4. The Lake
I have the great honor of being invited to spend a week (or weeks if I could spare the time) at Keuka Lake (NY) each summer. While it’s a scant 14+ hour drive, the 7-10 days spent sunning lakeside, skiing, tubing (okay, flying out of the tube at 30 miles an hour and spending the rest of the week watching the bruise on the backside go from blue to green….), boating, blueberry picking, reading, wine tasting, and sleeping late generally make up for the 28-30 hours getting there and back. I’m already itching to get driving.
5. Swimming Dogs
GirlFairway is a mix. People are all the time asking me what kind of dog she is (and my favorite response has become “custom breed”). The shelter told me she was part Akita and part Golden, but she’s definitely got some Chow in her as well (see the tail above as well as the black tongue you can’t see). Chows HATE water. Or so I hear. But Goldens love water. So there’s there ever raging battle in GirlFairway’s head that probably goes something like this: “Swim! Don’t Swim! Swim! Don’t Swim!” But it’s the Akita that breaks the tie in the summer. She gets so hot with all that fur (this year she is working on shedding herself a playmate) that she has to cool off. So the water wins and she swims. It’s so funny to watch because you can still see the battle going on in her head as she paddles around out there. “I’m going out further! I’m going back to shore! I’m getting cooler, yay! I’m wet, boo!”
So to all of you out there, enjoy the dog days of summer. Next week those days start to get shorter.
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