(Image by Daphne, used under Creative Commons License)
“summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people. for those few months, you’re not required to be who everyone thinks you are, and that cut-grass smell in the air and the chance to dive into the deep end of a pool give you a courage you don’t have the rest of the year. you can be grateful and easy, with no eyes on you, and no past. summer just opens the door and lets you out.”
― Deb Caletti, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart
Spring has given way to Summer, a time of soaring temperatures, high humidity, sunburn and a reproductively active insect population. Those are the bad things, the things it has become all too easy to whine about and moan about year after year. When I was a kid summers were nirvana, they were the very essence of life, they were all things good in the world encapsulated in an all-too-brief time between lessons and homework. A few years ago I came to the sudden realization that as an adult I had developed the habit of letting the summer months pass by in a haze that had little to do with the heat. I would look back over the months of June, July and August and wonder what I had done and the sad truth was that much of it was spent parked in front of a television wishing for cool weather and a return of the passions that blossomed during the other three months of the year.
It was then that I decided no more. Reaching back into the filed memories of a magical childhood I recalled Summer Reading Programs and times spent outdoors exploring and creating adventures, alone and with friends. I started making Summer Reading Lists and vowing to be present in my Summers. And every year I’ve gotten a little better at doing this, so much so that this year I am more excited than ever to experience Summer. What follows are the ingredients for a recipe of what I imagine a good Summer will be. I may use them all, I may only try a few, and it is safe to say I will grab more than a few surprise ingredients in the heat of the moment. But one thing is for certain, this summer is going to be cookin’.
