The Joy of Summer

We have jumped head long into summer finally.  I love summer, especially June, with long summer evenings perfect for being outdoors.  This week was full of the sound of the crack of a bat, the sensation of jumping into a cool pool, the taste of the lick of the summer’s first Popsicle, and the smell of bug spray.

Monday night we headed out for the evening with our group of young adult friends to a baseball game.  It was teams made of up college players that play in some of the area’s smaller cities.  Baseball is just a great laid back atmosphere to enjoy with some friends. Through the first inning or two Arthur was watching the game pretty intently while I was chatting with our friends.  He leaned over and asked, “How good do you think these players are?  High school basketball games are more entertaining than this.”  I tried to inform Arthur that the lack of excitement wasn’t do to the players’ skill but that baseball inherently isn’t that exciting—it’s meant to be more of a fun social activity.  Arthur doesn’t view sports as a fun social activity and I think was pretty bored the rest of the evening.  I got the feeling that he hasn’t attended many baseball games when he stood and removed his hat for Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7^th inning stretch.

This week was also the first week of lap swimming at the city pool.  We were each able to sneak away from work in time to make it a few times and it felt great to get back in the water. Arthur was so intent in swimming his laps he kind of forgot to get out when the water aerobics class started.  Luckily he wasn’t in their way since a group of water aerobics ladies can be very territorial and vicious at times.  Now we will probably have wet swim suits and goggles hanging in our shower the rest of the summer.

Another evening this week my cousins Eleanor and Winnifred met in town for dinner and stopped by our house afterwards.  Winnifred (I tried to pick an appropriately Brittish name) is currently living in England but was back on this side of the Pond for a few weeks.  Growing up the three of us were the “girl cousins” that were all the same age.  We have shared numerous tea parties, sleepovers, cooking experiments, etc.  We enjoyed an evening of sitting around chatting and then made homemade smoothies, another summer classic.  (Although this is actually a treat Arthur and I indulge in all year long—recipe included at the end of this post.)

The garden is also plugging along outdoors.  With all the rain I haven’t had to water much but a few sunny days this week kicked the basil into grow mode so hopefully I will have enough for a batch of pesto soon.  Some good and bad news from the gardening front—Our kale loved the cool, rainy weather and flourished.  Bad news--within a few days caterpillars turned it into pitiful skeletons of plants that look like swiss cheese.  Good news—since the caterpillars dined on the kale, we don’t have to eat it. 

 On Saturday Arthur went into work to verify soldering irons.  This has to be done every few months and is easier if no one is there using the soldering irons.  I went to town with him and spent most of the day with my brother, sister-in-law and my niece.  While they were working on some projects around the house I supervised my niece and kept her busy.  She is going to be three years old in a few months and it seems like she is talking more all the time.  Nothing beats playing in a wading pool with a toddler.  I would splash her and she would shriek with glee and try to dump water on me.  We did this for quite awhile and then it was determined that we would play princesses.  She would be Anna and I would be Elsa (from Frozen, of course).  I wasn’t quite sure what princesses do but I was informed that they brush each others hair.  It didn’t take long to brush hair so we jumped in the pool again.  She was trying to do canon balls in about 4 inches of water.  We then each ate a bomb pop.  We discussed that the popsicle was red, white, and blue.  Then all of a sudden it became just white and blue, where did the red go (in our tummies of course)?  That was fairly troubling.  In the processes of deliberating where the red part of the popsicle went, the rest started to melt.  The beauty was then we just hopped back in the pool to wash off any of the popsicle that dripped all over us. 

That evening Arthur and I went to Symphony at Sunset to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day.  One of my good friends plays in the symphony so I got to talk to her some before the concert started.  The concert was held on the lawn at the Presidential Library.  Everyone was sitting in lawn chairs or on blankets on the ground.  The beauty of an outdoor concert, somewhat like a baseball game, is that it is more of a social activity that everyone sitting silently in a concert hall listening to a piece.  Younger kids were running around playing catch while the adults were sitting around chatting.  The concert included several patriot numbers—America the Beautiful and a tribute to all the branches of the Armed Forces.  There were a few Big Band numbers and then a tribute to Frank Sinatra.  They finished with two numbers by John Williams (one of my favorite composers) including Hymn of a Fallen Soldier from Saving Private Ryan and the Midway March.  The last number was the Stars and Stripes Forever.  It was a great evening for the concert and Arthur and I had a wonderful time doing two things we enjoy at once- being patrons of the arts and being outdoors. 

I have gone on at length about my love for the outdoors and summer.  Arthur on the other hand is reminded again why he isn’t all that crazy about summer or being outside.  We finally turned the AC on but he has taken up residence in the basement since he gets hot much faster than I do.  He is also a prime target for mosquitos.  While we were at Sonic on Friday night, we sat less than 3 inches apart on the same bench.  As we were walking home he was talking about how miserable he was and he had gotten eaten alive by bugs.  I came away without a single bug bite but his back was covered with about 15 large welts from the bites.  We have found another benefit of being married—someone to spray you with bug spray, scratch the bites on your back you can reach, and someone to lovingly apply anti-itch cream on your back. Omni Vincit Amor.

Fruit Smoothies

½ c frozen strawberries

½ c frozen mango

½ c vanilla yogurt

½ c water

1 frozen banana

2 T frozen orange juice concentrate

Blend in a blender.  Makes 2 servings.

Notes: the frozen fruit can be substituted—blueberries, peaches, etc.  It is also a great way to use up fruit that’s past its prime.  I tossed in some leftover pineapple the other night.   I also keep my bananas that are past their prime in the freezer for the express purpose of making smoothies.  I soak them in cool water for a few minutes to defrost to remove the peel and then toss it into the blender.  Since I use frozen fruit I don’t have to add ice.