THAT SUMMER FEELING
Life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles. Notice them.
The memories of a happy summer spent with family and friends can last a lifetime. The simplest things in life are often the most magical. The experiences that we create become traditions that we will hold the dearest. So we reached back through our own childhood in this post asking, “What really made our childhood summers magical?” It didn’t take much before the memories started to flow: the last day of school before summer break which meant glorious months of total freedom; lazy mornings, playing tag in the soft gentle evening, or sitting quietly in the dark during loud thunderstorms while God did His work, the feel of beach sand or grass between our toes, the scattered blinking of fireflies at dusk, pretty girls in wildflower-patterned sundresses, painted toes, white tees, blacker than black sunshades, multi-colored lush flower gardens, peppermint sticks in sour lemons, humid nights, campfires, the quiet of early morning fishing trips, cousins, neighbors and kids all around, and the distant sound of the ice cream truck. Entertaining and enjoying the company of family and friends in the backyard, on the patio or deck. The heat of the summer sun on your skin while the mercury rose relentlessly, feeling HOT, loud music, darker skin, ice cold lemonade, dipping in and out of the pool, fireworks, sparklers, BBQs, the mixture of bug repellent and sunscreen melting into your skin and flip flops slapping beneath your feet. Beach balls and watermelon slices. Towels hanging up to dry for the few spare minutes no one needs to use them. Chasing frisbees, the warm cinnamon smell of peach cobbler, mom making potato salad in grandma’s favorite ceramic bowl and Dad grilling hot dogs. Summer has arrived.
Make this summer your best and live it without regrets Butterflies, and create memories to last another generation.
Raspberry lemon popsicles
Passing on cooking secrets while creating memories.
Nothing says summer like apple cobble.
Individual dishes of peach cobbler.
A bowl of roasted corn-on-the-cob with tarragon is a nice surprise for the palate.
Watermelon flavored popsicle for the kids and for the adults.
Mr. Groundhog, one of our many neighbors.
Coconut cake always take me back to hot summer days and the best of my childhood.
Nothing like a cool fruity drink to quench your thirst.
The red bee balm plant fulls the corner of the garden closes to the house and is a great perennial for the flower bed, as well as a favorite of bees and hummingbirds. One of its alternative names is Oswego tea, most likely referring to the tribe in the area of New York who used it for making beverages.
River rocks surround the fountain providing background music for the many wind chimes throughout the yard.
Liatris (Liatris spp.), also known as blazing star, gayfeather, or colic root (due to their historic medicinal use as intestinal antispasmodics), are perennials native to America’s prairies. Liatris plants can arise from corms, rhizomes or elongated root/crowns that sprout clumps of green, grass-like leaves that stay attractive all summer and turn a rich bronze in the fall. In late summer, liatris plants produce showy one to five-foot tall, upright bottlebrush-like spikes of bright purple (or sometimes white) flowers.
Sun-loving summer phlox, a perennial with a long flowering season pairs nicely with bee balm and balloon flowers.
Max
One of many purple butterfly bushes in the yard.
Basil and catnip
That beautiful season, the summer! Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape lay as if newly created in the freshness of childhood. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
You may not end up where you though you were going, but you will always end up where you were meant to be…
