By Kirsten ScottI don't know about your neck of the woods, but around here, school is finishing up and the kids are going crazy. Granted, they're only 7 and 5, so they don't really know what they're looking forward to, but they know something wonderful, something magical is about to happen.
Summer.
Summer's not like regular life. It's different. You never know what might happen. It's a time when dreams come true.
For me, the dreams centered around two things: horses and boys.
First the horses.
I grew up in a city, no horses to be found, but I still managed to be completely horse crazy. Over the summer, we'd go visit my grandparents in New Hampshire, and that's where I learned to ride. I took lessons at the Bald Ledge Riding Stables, from an old jockey with a bum knee, dark leathery skin, and an opinion about everything. His name was Stanley, and I lived for the wisdom he'd impart every summer.
When I was diagnosed with a congenital back disorder, and told I couldn't run, much less ride a horse, Stanley snorted with disgust. "Doctors don't know nothing," he said. "We'll teach you to ride like a jockey, so you don't jostle that back of yours. And you won't fall off. We'll see to that."
So I kept riding. Thanks to Stanley.
My other fantasies, particularly as I got older, centered around boys.
Anyone remember this movie?
Summer lovin...oh yeah...Am I the only one who fantasized every year about meeting my one true love while at summer camp? It never happened for me, but I did meet a boy when I was working at the Burger King in NH one year. I was headed off to college in the fall and so was he. He was painfully shy, and so was I. We didn't really get together until our last night, when we went camping with a big group of people and cuddled together under the stars. We didn't kiss, but we did see a falling star together. And in that moment, another dream came true.
So what about you? Any summer fantasies to share? Horses or boys? The music is playing and we can't wait to hear!
69 comments:
Maybe?
OMG, I did it! LOL! Now I need to go read the blog. LOL!
Ok, the GR looks a bit confused at the rodent running on the wheel to our left, but he has a late night totty and a he look comfy for now.
I love summer. Always have. For one, i hate to be cold. And I'm always cold so summer is MY time.
I loved horses and can remember when I was 11 years old and realized I would never have one. I was so heartbroken, my mother found me in the back of a closet crying my eyes out. A painful slap of reality when you're 11.
Now summer is a bit different for me. My daughter spends 10 of her 11 weeks off school 1100 miles away from me. It's hard, but it's also kind of liberating to be completely free for a little while.
No worries about finding baby sitters in order to see a movie or go out with friends. Thankfully, Nationals happens while she's gone so I also don't have to feel guilty about leaving her to go. Anytime I can reduce guilt and stress is a good time. *g*
Love your NH story. Falling stars are so romantic.
Congratulations Terrio!! And yeah for another horse girl! I think you and I shared the same tears over that realization. I went for years wondering if somehow, someway, I might end up with a horse. And then at some point, I figured it out, just like you, and it was devastating.
Anyway, I totally agree that being cold sucks! And while I'm sure you miss your little one terribly, I hope you take advantage of all that wonderful me time over the summer. Especially enjoying yourself at Nationals!
Terrio!!!!! One Golden Chook for you! Congratulations!
Kirsten, it's a bit miserable over in Oz today. Gray skies. A bit chilly. Winter definitely getting its claws in. So it was lovely to read your post about summer!
I was completely horse mad for most of my girlhood. In fact, I look back now and wonder how my parents coped. Every conversation I had ended up centring on horses. "Anna, have you taken out the rubbish?" "No, but I saw a really nice, horse." "Anna, what do you want for lunch tomorrow?" "A horse magazine?" You get the picture. My parents were silly enough to offer to get me a horse if I came top of my class one year. BAD move!!! Guess where I came. Nobody comes between me and an obsession! Actually one of my favorite bits of my horse obsession were the horse books. Gymkhanas and showjumping and pony trekking lived in my imagination much more vividly than anything I actually DID! There were all the Marguerite Henry books and the Silver Brumby books and the Pullein-Thompson books and the Mary O'Hara books and... Yet again, I'm sure you get the picture!
I must say until I hit adolescence, horses were considerably more interesting than boys!
Ooh, congrats, Terrio!
I've always enjoyed summer--the lovely weather, the abundance of fruit, lots of time to read... Now I still love the fruit and weather, and the kids are starting to learn to read, so it's all good :)
Congrats Terrio
Great post Kirsten sorry but I am a winter girl and always have been I am loving the weather over here at the moment although if I can take a holiday in summer near the beach I am very happy love laying under trees near a beach and reading a great book.
I love watching horses run free in paddocks but I have only ridden a horse once when I was about 15 and I didn't enjoy it that much although lots of my girlfriends had horses and I loved to give them apples etc.
Your summer holday sounds so romantic what a wonderful memory to have always.
Have Fun
Helen
Hi Kirsten! What a lovely post. Such a sweet story about you and your friend seeing the shooting star. That kind of innocence is difficult to contemplate now.
We've had pretty warm weather where I live, along with the heavy rains we usually get in summer. But winter will hit soon and I hate being cold, so I'm very jealous of you just cruising into summer. I love the heat, love swimming and the beach and all the great stuff that goes along with a long holiday. Can't wait for it to roll around again.
Hey, Terrio, congrats! Is this your first time with the GR?
WOO HOO! Congrats, Terri! This is a first for you and the GR, isn't it?
I loved summer! I grew up on a lake and summer meant fun, fun, fun! We were one of the few full-time residents on our street so summer meant the return of summer neighbors, those families who lived and worked in Chicago but mom and kids spent their summers at their lake houses with dads driving up for weekends. We'd hit the water at daybreak and spend our days swimming, canoeing, skiing, lazing around on the raft, zooming around in our speedboat and flirting with all the boys. Most of my full-time friends lived off the lake so my house was *the* summer place to hang out. My mom never knew how many people she'd be feeding for lunch but she always had enough and everyone was welcome. Most of our meals were cooked on the grill and most Sundays various aunts, uncles and cousins would show up for picnics and more lake fun. Nights were spent roaming among the various houses on the street; playing cards and other games, drinking sodas from the bottle, dancing to 45's or just talking with lots and lots of laughter. Nine of the houses had kids around my age and we all treated all of the houses as our own. Nobody locked their doors in those days and every kid on the street was welcome to treat all the houses as their own. It was a pretty idyllic childhood.
Kirsten, I love your camp story. I went to Girl Scout came for two weeks every summer but it was just girls. The boy scout camp was across the lake and we never got together. I stopped going when I hit my teens so I didn't mind. At ages 9-13 I was much more interested in the S'mores, banana boats and other goodies we cooked over the campfires than I was in boys. ;)
Congrats on the Gr Terrio! The GR will be learning a new language...mouse!(g)
I was horse mad as well... I bought my own when I started work at 16 as a telephonist. I payed 50 Pounds for a 10yr old bay mare -Julie! the owners let me pay her off... (this was before Australia went over to dollars and cents)
I had her for 6 years before she got an impaction of the bowel and I had to get her put down. I was pretty upset as you would expect! She was a an ex-trotting mare with a really hard mouth and she used to bolt on me, usually when I was riding bareback!, I used to hang on for dear life and eventually she'd puff out or I'd manage to turn her into a circle to stop!
I used to call her JulieBags because she was always doing something tricky and nasty...
Summer holidays was the Best Time for horseriding and flirting with boys!
Boy this post jogged some great memories! Thanks Kirstan
Summer has officially arrived at our house. Yesterday was the last day of school and my 5th grader graduated from elementary school. And it's supposed to be in the mid 90s for the next three days.
Sorry I haven't been around much. I was on the decorating committee for the graduation party and I'm still knee deep in revisions.
Summer where I grew up was a little boring, which is probably why I was such a reader.
Down here in Maryland, the kids can walk down to the river and fish or crab. There's a fresh water pond for them to swim with a sandy beach and lots of play area. And we go out on the boat (maybe not so much this year with the price of gas). So now I have a week to finish my revisions so I can enjoy some of this summer bliss.
Summer is definitely in full swing here in Atlanta. The kids have been out of school for a week now, and I am already counting the days until school starts again -- 58. What?? Did you think I was kidding?? LOL! It is really hard to do stuff with them when I am at work, but Granny watches them while I work and she takes them all over the place.
When I was growing up, summer meant all day by the pool or on the boat. See, I grew up in Florida. My best friend would come over every single day and we would swim and play in the pool. I had a set of small pans, plate, cups, etc., and we would set up our restaurant on the edge of the pool and just play all day long. It was great.
Lucky you, Kristen, growing up riding and loving horses! I never rode one until I was in my thirties and it scared me half to death!
Terrio, WTG, girl, on the GR. I love the warm weather too.
I used to love summer when I was a kid. I grew up in Virginia and our property sloped down to the James River. Summer meant we got to sleep out on the screened-in porch and I loved waking up to all the sounds around us.
Anna, I feel for your grey skies and cold. In Oregon, we've had a unusually chilly spring and summer just won't come. It's been rainy and 50 for as long as I can remember. So my post is really an attempt to convince summer that it SHOULD be here!
Sounds like you were as crazy about horses as me -- and how's this? My mom told me she'd buy me a horse if I went to Cornell University (her alma mater). I even got it in writing (I believe I was 10 at the time, but a budding lawyer, clearly). So when it came time to pick a college, guess what I demanded? ;-) And she backed out. Can you believe it? I had it in writing, I tell you!!
So did your parents make good on their promise? Did you get a horse?
Fedora, you mentioned one of my absolute favorite things about summer -- fruit! Berries, to be precise! Our berry crop in OR is running very late this year, thanks to the spring-that-never-was. We're counting on CA to satisfy my strawberry urges!!
What's your fav fruit? Are you a berry girl too? Or perhaps a juicy melon?
Helen you just described my perfect holiday -- lying under a tree and reading! I would like winter more if it wasn't so darn COLD. ;-)
Way to go, Terrio! Enjoy His Royal Featheredness! He needs to learn about other cultures, including Rodent!
Great post, Kirsten. Another horse mad girl reporting in. I was SO lucky when we lived in England as the two little old ladies next door had a three stall stable in their back garden and they had two magnificent hunter/jumpers and one old cobb. I helped them out in the stables and got to exercise the horses too! I also worked at the local racing stables as an exercise "boy" and stable "boy." Those three years were heaven for a horse nut like me. I didn't actually own a horse until I got out of college and was married. I had Taz for over 25 years and he handled moves, my being overseas and my poor dh who was scared to death of riding him with great grace. My pasture is overgrown now and I seldom venture down there because Taz is not there. I might get another horse one day, but I am NOT getting any younger. Old bones do NOT take the jolting well!
It is definitely summer here! Temps have been in the 90's for over a month now. The kiddie pools went into the dog runs last week and they are definitely being used!
S'mores, s'mores? Did PJ mention s'mores? I'm so there. Yummy!
HI Christine! You know, I must confess that while I love summer, I don't like hot weather. Don't like cold weather either. I have a very narrow band of tolerance, and tend to complain when it veers too much in either direction. LOL.
I didn't realize your summers were rainy -- how hot does it get? How cold? I have no real idea of your climate.
Oh, and yes, we were very innocent. And I fully expect my daughter to be just as innocent the summer before she goes to college. Hmph!! ;-)
Hehehehehe, Kirsten, our California strawberries are on right now and they're soooo big and ripe and sweet. Delicious!
And I wanna know if Anna got the horse too!
Shame on your mum for reneging on a written contract LOL!
Oh my goodness PJ, your whole lake thing sounds amazing! I bet it got a bit lonely over the winter, but you were such a superstar every summer!!
Our grandparents NH cottage was on a lake and I have incredibly fond memories of those summers. There weren't a lot of other kids around, so my sister and I mostly played together, but it was swimming and boating all day long.
So do you still live on the lake? Or get back there for the summer?
Hi Carol! What a great story about JulieBags! She sounds like a real handful -- but I get the impression you rather liked it when she'd take off running, no? ;-) Sounds like a great excuse to gallop madly across the pasture, if you ask me. LOL.
Do you still find time to ride?
Ooo Christie, it definitely sounds like fun is awaiting you! I didn't realize you were so close to water. What a lovely thing that is for your boys. I hope you get those revisions done quick because now that they're out of school, they won't let you get a thing done! :-)
Buffie, you are too funny! LOL! You know, there are a bunch of teachers on our block and they're worse than the kids at counting down the last days of school. And my husband always knows when he's got to go back to work, that's for sure!
Your summers sound just lovely, but I'm surprised. I would have thought it was too hot in Florida to be outside all day long. Not true?
Oh, and we're jetting off to Sanibel island in a couple of weeks for our family vacation! I can't wait!
Jo, I have a quart of your strawberries on the counter right now!! Thank goodness for California! :-)
And YES YES YES on the smores. Which reminds me -- I learned a new trick when you're cooking smores over a woodstove. You put a cast iron fry pan on the stove and put a graham cracker and chocolate on the pan while you roast the marshmallow. The cracker gets warm and the chocolate starts to melt right about the time you have toasted to perfection...YUM.
Sleeping on the porch sounds lovely. I can just hear the frogs and birds and all sorts of sounds as you fall asleep.
And by the way, don't give up on the horses. No reason you can't start riding now!
Doglady, you just described my absolute dream!! And I'm thinking you need to get another horse. Fill up that pasture. Just don't let the horse trot. ;-)
Yep, my first time with the GR. He's already bored with Grace the Hamster. She just runs on that wheel and never gets anywhere.
It was all over once he spotted Chesney the parakeet. He's been preening and crowing like some cock on the walk. LOL! And heaven help us I think I saw her wink at him.
Speaking of summer, we're off to the ballfield. It's mid 90s so I'm letting him hang here in the AC. I sure hope he doesn't manage to get that cage open....
Kirsten, I'll happily trade my weather for yours. We're in an extreme drought and expecting the temp to hit 100 today. I'm hoping this isn't an indication of what the entire summer will be like. I live on a lake but not where I grew up. That lake was in Michigan and I now live in South Carolina.
I love summer fruit! We have about one more week of strawberries here then it's blueberry season. I pick my blueberries at a local farm and they're supposed to be ready June 19th. July brings local peaches and they are SO DELICIOUS!
I used to live 90 minutes north of Sanibel. The dh and I enjoyed driving down there for the occasional weekend. Hope you and your family have a great time!
Have a great time at the ballfield Terrio! And keep that chook well guarded! Never know when that parakeet will start feeling frisky! LOL.
Oo, PJ, I will definitely take 50 and rainy over 100 and drought conditions. The SW has had a rough go of it, haven't you? Sending rainy thoughts your way...
and thanks for the good wishes! I am not looking forward to the plane ride with the kiddos, but I'm sure we will love it once we're there.
Go Terrio on the GR! Woo-hoo!
58 days, eh? Hmm. My oldest doesn't get out of school until this coming Thursday, but I'll start the countdown anyway. Har!
Helen, my sister in snow! I LOVE winter. Summer? UGH. It's in the 90s today and is muggggggggy. Bleeeech. And I'm having my Launch Party today with friends and a water slide and all that. Hopefully we'll all survive it.
But horses, all the way. I tried to buy one, had saved all my babysitting money, but drat them, they wanted to be sure my parents were okay with it...uh, no.
But as you said, Kirsten, I'm not too late. Now that I've got all the baby-makin' out of the way, I'm taking riding lessons in the fall. :>
Hi Jeanne! Enjoy that Launch party -- it sounds like great fun. Will they let you bring any of the cabana boys, or is this an all-ages party? LOL.
And good on you for your upcoming lessons! That's awesome. I may have to start keeping a list of things I want to do when the kids are older and more self-sufficient. Horseback riding will be right up at the top.
I just watched 'Hairspray' this morning, so I loved the picture of John Travolta in young, slim, hipster dancing days as a LOL contrast to his not-quite-so-young, not-quite-so-slim, middle-aged mama dancing days role.
M, I just loved Hairspray (at least, the movie version, I've never seen the live one)! It is quite something to see Travolta in his younger days after that, isn't it? But isn't he hilarious?
Kirsten -- when you are a kid and you are playing in the water, it really doesn't matter to you how hot it is. Funny thing is now I hate being out in hot weather. Oh it looks great from my spot on the couch in the air conditioned house, but I sure don't want to be out in it.
So you are a Sanibel Island lover too. We used to go there all the time . . . but that was years ago when it wasn't such a resort. I didn't live too far from there -- Cape Coral/Fort Myers.
All the talk about lakes had me remembering my grandparents little cottage on a lake in Indiana. We would spend a few days there, sitting on the dock fishing with cane pools and eating ice cream. Great memories!
PJ, I want what she's having! What fantastic childhood memories. It sounds like something out of a Trixie Belden!
Carol, how fantastic you had Julie. I think Julie and my horse Gypsy must have been twins. Gypsy was an ex-riding school horse and far too big and difficult for a beginner rider. I never really learnt how to ride her. Her mouth was like iron - all those inexperienced riders tugging on it for all those years, I suspect. She was pretty old and not a particularly NICE horse. But of course, I loved her to death. She got bitten by a snake one day and died and I cried my eyes out.
Kirsten, that's just wrong! At least my parents came to the party when I came top of my class! ;-)
Pam, that picture of the stables next door in the English countryside was my picture of nirvana when I was a horsemad pre-teen. Nearly all the books I read were English (Mary O'Hara and Marguerite Henry were the exceptions).
Kirsten, in a normal year, we have a monsoonal climate. Lots and lots of rain and cyclones. Hot and humid and uncomfortable. Summer isn't my favorite season over here either. Although I have wonderful memories of beach holidays in the sun.
Terri, the parrot and the rooster? It sounds like Romeo and Juliet in the making to me. Two cages, both alike in dignity...
Buffie, I learned how to fish with cane poles. We'd dig up night crawlers in my mom's garden, put them in our sand pails then tromp on out to the end of the dock. We could sit there fishing for hours. I caught everything from perch to sunfish to bass to catfish with those poles. Baiting the hook didn't bother me a bit but no way was I going to touch the fish. That was somebody else's job! Ewwww!
Hey, Kirsten! I'm a summer girl all the way. It's not just the weather, though that's great. It's the freedom, that sense of endless possibility. Life is so much easier when you can just breeze outside without adding five or six layers to prevent instantaneous death by frost bite. It sort of make you think other things might be easier, too. Gives you a sense of possibility, a sense that something good is just...about...ready...to fall into your lap.
So here we go. Come on, summer. Let's see whatcha got. :-)
Summer in my early years was an
armload of books from the library,
a quilt, lots of shady trees, and
hours for reading! The strangest
thing to me today was how well we
accepted the heat. Today I cannot
spend as much time in the sun!!
I need my A/C!!
Congratulations, Terrio!
Pat Cochran
Terrio! Way to go!
Hi, Kirsten--thanks for the great post. I don't really have summer fantasies. Sitting on the beach with the family and a good book, maybe splashing in the shallows or walking on the shore, would do it for me. On our recent beach trip, we saw a number of jellyfish in the water, which cut down on splashing opportunities.
My father grew up near the ocean, and he loved to swim in it. He taught us to go beyond the breakers and swim, but my no one else in my family is up for that these days. And jellyfish put a kibosh on it for me!
You horse lovers should visit the NC coast at Corolla (just south of the VA line). There's a herd of Spanish mustangs roaming wild north of the paved road. The horses number about 100 and have been authenticated by various horse registries as the genuine article, probably descended from shipwreck survivors (the NC coast being the Graveyard of the Atlantic) or from horses sent ashore by the Spaniards as part of a colonization strategy that never bore fruit.
Anna C. and Kirsten, it's in the high 90s here today. You can have some to brighten that winter!
Christie, I was an avid summer reader, too. I filled up numerous Summer Library List cards.
PJ, a friend of mine takes her son kayaking on a lake near Atlanta. The lake is down so far that people have been running ATVs on the exposed red clay that used to be under water. I hope you get several days of steady, gentle rain to soak into the water table!
Like Susan, I'm a summer girl through and through. The weather, the freedom... it goes on and on.
:)
Jeanne
I hope your launch party is fantastic I am still waiting for the book to arrive I was hoping it would arrive for the weekend but alas I will have to wait till probably Wednesday for yours and Donna's book. Winter is the best for me I can always get warm but I find it hard to cool down.
Kirsten
It gets really hot here in summer and we also get a lot of humidity and winter is nice no snow but lovely snuggly weather great book reading weather it is raining here again today since winter started on June 1 we have only had about 3 to 4 days without rain and they predict rain most of winter which we need we are still on water restrictions from the drought we have been in for about 4 years now although it is a pain getting the washing dry I know we need the rain.
Have Fun
Helen
Cute post :) I love summer. It's always been a great time - first the no school, then my birthday [and actually a LOT of birthday parties.] And the holidays, fun weather, more sunshine - and now more and more weddings... what's not to love?
[No cute stories like you to share :P]
Nancy -- we have quite a few lakes here in the Atlanta area that are down quite a bit. Lake Lanier is the largest one around Atlanta it is pretty low. I don't think we will have much relief this summer. I sure hope it changes soon.
PJ -- isn't that funny that we both learned to fish with cane poles! I can still see my wonderful grandmother sitting on the end of the dock in her colorful shorts, no-sleeve shirt (wasn't really a tank top), and that beautiful white hat with a large flower on it. She made a statement, that Grandma of mine. I sure do miss her.
Buffie, I heard that Sanibel was damaged in one of the hurricanes a few years ago. Do you know if that's true? We are staying at some cottages with my husband's family that look adorable.
Anna, poor Gypsy! Doesn't Australia have more deadly snakes than any other place in the world? And I must admit, the weather sounds a bit challenging. Or are those just the stories you tell so you don't get too many tourists? (That's what we do in Oregon. We PRETEND its cold and rainy all the time so the people from southern California don't all move here.)
PJ and Buffie, we fished off our dock in NH too! The problem was that we also fed the fish off the dock, so they got pretty tame, and then we felt guilty catching them. LOL. After a while, we made a rule that we had to go to a different lake to fish. We were too worried that we'd catch our friends!
And then there was the time my little brother went swimming without bottoms (he was only 3 or 4 at the time) and a fish thought his little willie was a worm...poor guy was scared to swim for weeks!
Susan, summer is definitely preferable to death by frostbite! Except I seem to recall a plague of insects that descends on MN in the summer. Hmmm?
Ah well. Frostbite or mosquitos. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? And you Minnesotans are tough as nails! :-)
Pat, I heartily agree-summer is the best time for reading! I probably inhaled 2-3 books a day over the summer when I was a kid. Not as much free time now, but I still enjoy bringing home a few dozen books from the library every few days to feed my habit! :-)
Nancy, I used to love to float around in the ocean too! Those jellyfish sound a bit fierce, though. I'd probably stay away as well. And those horses sound amazing, too! I hope you had an incredible trip. Welcome back!
hi elyssa! Freedom's a great word for summer -- I think that's why kids love it so much. You have this idea you'll be able to do whatever you want all summer. Though in my case, what you really had to do was work all summer at Burger King. LOL.
Hi Helen! Mmm, I love your comment about snuggly weather. I suspect the 50 degrees and rainy weather that characterizes Portland also explains why we have the most bookstores by capita in the US.
Oh, and you'll want to set aside a couple of free days when you receive Jeanne and Donna's books. You won't be able to put them down! But I'd recommend you start Dark and Dangerous in the morning, so you don't scare the beejezus out of yourself like I did!
limecello, I completely forget about all the summer weddings!! You're right, that is a completely fun thing about summer. I'm a bit past the stage now, but for a few years there, it seemed like every summer 4-5 of my friends were getting married. We all dropped like flies over the space of a few weeks.
Which also reminds me -- today is my 10th wedding anniversary! :-)
Buffie, your grandma sounds like a sweetheart. I think about my grandparents in the summer as well. We lived pretty far from them, so that was a big time to catch up. Now that my kids only see my parents in the summer, I remember those times with my grandparents even more.
Inara wrote: I didn't realize your summers were rainy -- how hot does it get? How cold? I have no real idea of your climate.
Well, we're in a subtropical climate here on the east coast of Australia, so we are supposed to get a lot of rain in summer. Think long hot, humid sunny days with a storm in the evening.
However, we've had a drought that has only recently broken, so not much rain last summer.
In winter, the temperatures in Brisbane don't get much below 10 Celsius (I'm afraid I don't know the equivalent in your language) and at the height of summer the temperatures are in the mid-30s. But the humidity is the killer. It's very sultry in summer here. Still, I love it. Especially since our house has aircon. *g*
Summer when I was a kid meant freedom to do whatever I wanted...as long as my Mom drove me there.
The only horse I was interested in was the one on the carosel at Fountain Ferry amusement park.
And summer camp? Mom signed me up for a Girl Scout day camp. Talk about muggy. By the second day when I had kept dropping the canned biscuits in the dirt before wrapping them around hot dogs AND was designated the "johnny hopper" AND saw a spider the size of Manhattan I was well and finished with the idea of any outdoor recreation.
As to the summer of Grease? Well, let's put it this way. Still buried somewhere deep in my psyche is the conviction that I can look like Olivia Newton John in her black suit and red heels.
"Tell me about it, stud"
:-)
Christine, I am in awe of your ability to describe the humidity and still say, "I love it." I am such a weather whimp. But we don't have air conditioning at our place, so that's my excuse. ;-) Not that I'm weak.
Joan, ROFLMAO -- I think we've all got a little of that Olivia NJ perm in us! You are hilarious. I promise when we meet up in San Fran we won't plan ANY outdoor activities! LOL.
I think I might officially change my opinion on summer. LOL! We pushed 100 today with heat index around 105 or higher. My daughter's softball team party is tomorrow at 3 when the temp is expected to be 101 before heat index. Thank goodness it's a pool party!
The chook seems to have made it through the day pet sitting. Parakeet cage still intact, but he's smiling and that worries me.
Nancy - those horses aren't far from me but I haven't been able to see them yet. However, that's on my list!
Terrio, congrats on the GR!! And let me tell you, it's been 100 degrees here for three days and above 95 for a few before that. May was unusually cool for us - ha! It was a cruel tease. No break in the heat until early next week, when it will fall to the high 90s. Wow, a cold front.
Let me go on record here: I have lived in the South all my life and I HATE SUMMER. I hate it every year and will never feel any differently. I would rather be cold, because you can always add layers. But when it's 100 and the heat index is over 105, you can only take off so much. It's so hot that it doesn't cool off at night. That's insane.
I also don't care for the beach much, except in fall and winter when no one else is there. I know, I'm the anti-summer person. I remember school was dull and summer was duller. Really, you can only ride your bike so much and swim so many times and put on so many plays before it's all dull as dishwater. The only good part was going to the library - which had AIR CONDITIONING! That was a huge luxury in the 70s. No wonder I love the library so! *g*
Kirsten, I do love summer for the berries. We bought blackberries and blueberries today and plan to make a cobbler tomorrow (the RIGHT way, with actual pastry strips and not a glob of gunk on top, as we discussed last year *g*). That, watermelon and cantaloupe are about all summer has going for it in my book. I get more curmudgeonly about summer every year!
I keep trying to get my husband to move to Canada, but he's all attached to NC. Plus, he lived in North Dakota and it kind of scarred him for life on snow country. *g*
Kirsten, I'm translating Christine's temps: 10 degrees C is 53 degrees F. 30 degrees C is 89 degrees F.
All our Aussie friends, so you know, when we say it's 100 degrees F, that's a bit over 36 C. Really freaking hot!
Terrio, my heart goes out to you. I would hate summer too if I had to ensure that kind of heat!
And ditto for you Caren. You are completely justified in your curmedgeon-ness. Is that even close to a word? Anyway, you're justified in hating summer. Yuck! I lived in NC for four summers and it seemed like each one got hotter and stickier than the last. At least then there was no drought so we could take long cold showers. You can't even do that anymore, right? Yeesh!
Feel free to relocate to the pacific NW, where we only get a handful of hot days in the summer (and complain bitterly for each one). And bring some of that cobbler when you come!!
Hi to all,
Kirsten, What a disapointment that must have been when your mum reneged on that deal!
I was married when I had to Julie put down, so I never got another horse, I got a house and a dog instead! then 2 babies.
I am not completely horseless though! I walk about 5km nearly every day and go past a lovely gray anglo/arab "Storm" and I take him a carrot and an apple, He sees me coming along and comes over -cupboard love!
Anna, Your Gypsy and My Julie sound Very alike! We loved them warts and all!
I had a fair bit of experience on borrowed horses by the time I got Julie, but I think mares were trickier than geldings!
And snakes kill a lot of horses in Australia. Some Australian snakes are the most deadly in the world due to having their fangs in the front of their mouths, hence in an attack they inject lots of venom!
Last Christmas my D.daughter gave me a horse riding voucher at the local horse riding site, we both went! It was Great! um... sore bum afterwards, and we are going to go again!
Cheers Carol
Carol, it sounds to me like you and Stormy have something special going on! But now that i know about those snakes, I'm going to fear for your safety as you go every morning for your walkabout! Be careful! Australia is dangerous!! :-)
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