the beauty of an ordinary life
Now here we are at summer’s sun-stand, the long solstice (in the northern hemisphere, anyway) of June, fruit of a cycle born six months ago at the onset of winter. It’s still an anything-can-happen era with a why-the-hell-not vibe. It’s the time to ask, again: If not now, then when?
Here’s how I knew we were going to the beach and not to my grandparents’ house at Hardy: when we turned from our street and drove past the Howard Johnson’s (where we went to get ice cream), we turned and drove up a ramp, past the billboard picture of the girl with the dog tugging…
By the time you are reading this, if I didn’t make a mistake in scheduling this post and if you are the hot off the press, read as soon as it’s published sort of reader, I’ll be about halfway to the beach. If you’re from here (meaning Memphis), then you know exactly, give or take…
For me, each year is divided into two parts: summer and not-summer. Summer, to me, is the stretch of sunny days between Memorial Day and Labor Day; not-summer is the remainder. Summer is Wiccan, loose and roaming. Not-summer is Presbyterian, the time to hunker down and be serious. Even during the years between my own…
Ah, summer reading, the special torture devised by teachers to deprive children of a carefree break from school. I hated summer reading. I’m a slow reader, for one thing, and, for another thing, I have always had a penchant for reading junk fiction. My teachers didn’t care. They never, not once, assigned a Ken Follet…
Hey, dude, I’m on vacation! But not to fear, here’s a story I posted last summer complete with a menu that takes full advantage of what’s at the market right now, pick of the season. happy week. Blackberry Summer (originally published 7.20.13) My mother’s parents were farmers, and their farm had everything from peanuts to…
After eight weeks of family eating free-for-all and suspension of nightly bedtimes, we are heading back to the world of routines, schedules and reminders. As the time between school years draws to a close, these are the lists I’ll be tucking into a folder full of mementos that one day might populate a scrapbook (or…
School starts in 10 days, and I am not ready to give up summer.
