Reverend Mother writes:
...or town, or suburb, or hamlet, or burg, or unincorporated zone, or rural area of your choice---pretty much anywhere but the southern hemisphere, it's summer. (Australians and others, consider this an invitation to take a break from winter for a while.)
1. Favorite summer food(s) and beverage(s)
We can eat strawberries any time now, but I always associate them with summer, because my grandparents had a huge strawberry patch on their farm when I was little. I loved to pick and eat the strawberries -- still do. A few years ago we travelled to Bayfield, and spent an afternoon picking fresh strawberries. Better than anything in the store! As well, I love raspberries, corn on the cob, fresh lemonade, wine coolers.
2. Song that "says" summer to you. (Need not be about summer explicitly.)
Chicago's: Saturday in the Park
... I think it was the 4th of July
wonderful images of summer in the city...
And I associate it with weekend family camping trips, where we had the transistor radio blaring while running back and forth to the lake
3. A childhood summer memory
evening picnics by the lake, meeting my dad after work by one of the city lakes, bringing a picnic basket and sharing sandwiches. Simple pleasures are the best.
4. An adult summer memory
the caravan of cars travelling out to the Black Hills, with my sister and her husband, my mom and dad, and my neices and nephews. We stopped in the Badlands, where it was about 98 in the shade, but in the Black Hills it was a cool 72! The neices and nephew were pre-school age and like the buffalo and the Fairy Tale Park best. It was a wonderful time
5. Describe a wonderful summer day you'd like to have in the near future. (weather, location, activities)
I'd just like to spend a lazy day at the lake again someday. (so near, and yet so far)
Optional: Does your place of worship do anything differently in the summer? (Fewer services, casual dress, etc.)
We have only two Sunday services instead of three, and the 8:00 a.m. one is out on the lawn unless it rains. There is still communion every Sunday (even outside), but the outdoor service is more casual, with a lot of rowdy hymn-singing.
15 comments:
Strawberries are always best when you pick them, aren't they?
I hope you stopped at Wall Drug when you went through the Badlands! :)
I love strawberries fresh picked- shipped in ones loose something- and hot house strawberries don't have the same flavour-
Great play- will someone explain Wall Drug to me please???
my husband grew up in the black hills! and he proposed to me at the end of our first trip together to his childhood territory. GREAT vacation spot. and he says it was a great place to grow up!
Um, Sally, do you not know what Wall Drug is? Or do you not get why Wall Drug is? I can't help with B, but as for A- Wall, SD is a tiny town, that had a drug store along the highway. They started offering free ice water to travelers years ago and this has since become a major tourist trap. A huge store, a giant green dinosaur- and there are signs for it EVERYWHERE. Does that help? Does anyone else want to chime in?
Yes, Wall Drug is a MEGA-tourist trap sort of in the middle of nowhere. It's so cheesy that it's fun! They have billboards practically all over the world saying "1486 miles to Wall Drug" (or however many miles it is).
Mmmm...freshly picked strawberries!
I'll add my 2 cents on Wall and on Wall Drug. It is a tiny town, with a drug store that was going out of business during the depression, until, like More Cows says, they started offering free ice water. Also Wall is right at the edge of the Badlands... so the Drug Store owners would see this caravan of cars leaving the Black Hills and Badlands and wondering how to get them to stop.
Raspberries are sooo yummy! Ever try putting them in the bottom of your glass & then filling it up with champagne? oh so delicious!
Just to make the point. I've never been to the original Wall Drugs in South Dakota. But I've driven through Nebraska (yawn, the LONGEST state in the USA) and seen plenty of signs for Wall Drugs. So, yes the signage reaches out a long long way...I could say something about it, and I've never been to it....However, fresh strawberries...right out of great-grandmothers garden in Idaho....
Loved your faves. All the references to places I love, and those strawberries! Yum! Great play!
The Black Hills!!! I was there long long ago when I was with Covenant Players. We stayed in a place just outside Rapid City called Bethlehem. It was a little Catholic commune run by a Priest (forgot his name) and where boys working off their conscientious objector status during the Viet Nam war, labored.
Great list. Corn on the cob, grilled, oh my yes!
Thanks for the Wall Drug explanation- I've seen pics now you've explained it- all is clear- crazy but fun!
The Covenant players! I think I remember them! Did you ever go to Arizona?
Yup. Went to Arizona once in, I think it was the summer of '71. Maybe before. But there were other groups, units we called them then, that went regularly. There may still be, but the U.S. touring company is shrinking because of losing members. (not the best paying gig)
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