I’m starting this thread early because I realize some of us here in the USA might not be around tomorrow in light of the upcoming holiday.
Besides, I’ve been reading a lot of depressing threads here on the SDMB lately, and we need a little happy around here.
For me, one of my favorite things about summer is hanging out in a friend’s pool for a few hours. I don’t get to do it very often - but when I do, I always really enjoy it. There’s something about going from the heat of the sun to diving under in to the cool of the pool that I really enjoy.
What about you? What is your favorite thing about summer?
The smell of a summer morning - dew, grass, flowers.
Tomorrow we will be going up to the cabin. I love being up there. In the mornings, I go down to the lake, sit on the dock, and read or just enjoy my time alone. We have a family of loons on the lake and a wide assortment of birds - I love hearing them cry, chirp, and (in the case of the catbird) meow. Dragonflies flitter around. Hang my feet over the dock into the cool water. Watch the perch as they swim on by. Nod at the random fishermen trolling past.
When I’m here at home, I am not a morning person. Up there, I try to be the first up just so I can have that time for myself - before the rest of the family intrudes, before the jetskiiers and waterskiiers take over.
Here at home, when we all get together, there’s talking and stuff to do, places to go. Up there, we’ll all just sit around and play cards or dominoes. We can spend time just BEING, not doing. It’s not uncommon for a break to occur during a card game… to watch chipmunks gambol nearby or to watch fish jump in the lake.
Late at night I love going out by the cornfield and laying in the grass. The stars seems SO close. The frogs sing. Often, lightning bugs will flitter around the field.
I love having it be light when I wake up and still light into the evening. I love that grey, dreary, rainy days are fairly few and far between.
Also, being outdoors- I love that there are people outdoors, I love being able to open up doors and windows and let the outside air come in, I love being able to go outside easily and just hang out there instead of spending every second outside wishing I were anywhere but outside.
This summer, I’m a big fan of summer romances, too Though with luck, I’ll feel the same about fall romances in a couple months…
I really miss New England sea food - especially true clam shacks.
When I was a kid, we used to camp in Maine every summer - and on the way back home we would always stop at this outdoor clam stand - and I’d get a basket of clams with tons of tartar sauce. It’s when I first discovered that I loved tartar sauce on french fries.
We used to go to the Copper Kettle and get a bucket of steamed clams. I loved rinsing them in the hot water bath and then dipping them in the butter. I would gobble them up, the butter dripping down my chin, stopping only to munch on a row of hot buttered corn on the cob.
And the 4th of July! (It’s actually my favorite holiday. Out of all of them.)
*I in no way mean to imply we can’t have ice cream at other times, gracious no. But nothing beats stopping at your local Dairy Queen on a hot summer day for a tin roof sundae.
Everything in summer is so easy - want to go for a walk? Put on your shoes and go. Want to go for a drive? Get in your car and go. No checking weather reports to see how many layers you have to put on or if the roads are in any condition to drive on, no putting on three layers of clothing (and trying to figure out which ones - going to the mall? Well, you need to be able to take your parka off, then. Or maybe just wear your light jacket to run from the car to the mall.)
I love being outside and working on my yard, too. Being outside in the fresh air, doing physical labour, enjoying the sunshine, working with plants - all good.
Though with luck, I’ll feel the same about fall romances in a couple months…