Summertime and the Living is Easy

If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a minute…
Mark Twain

At times, I think I would like to move down south from the northeastern part of the USA. Then again, I would miss the changes of the seasons. Also, I understand the humidity can make the weather unbearable in the summer, the deeper you go in the South. Yep…I hear that Amen from my southern brothers and sisters.

So, all and all, in New England, the summer is pretty nice.

My days revolve around my family, especially my grandchildren.
We live in close proximity to them. My grandson only has to lie on the floor upstairs, near the floor vent and yell…” Granny, can I come down?”

He will be doing that more often with School vacation being here.

Thanks to a yard with trees, I can watch the kids play on their swing set and run through the sprinklers. I’ve even joined in water gun fights with them.

I like cooking out. Doesn’t it seem like food that is cooked outside, tastes better? My son and his family share some meals with us. He is a great cook. There is even a brick fireplace/oven in our backyard. Brick oven pizza, cooked outdoors…yum!

When my children were younger, we did a lot of tent camping. Lo and behold, my husband told me the other day that he is going to go camping for a few days. Even though I feel bad about him being alone, I can’t bring myself to sleep on the ground and deal with bugs and everything else that goes with camping. If I have a change of heart, I will give you all a report on the days in the forest.

On rainy days, my grandkids and I make tents in the living room. We eat our lunch under the blanket tent. At times, we gather a bunch of instruments and make lots of noisy music.

Another summer tradition has been joining the Reading program at the Library. It runs for four weeks. They get credit each day of reading and earn rewards. I am such a supporter of the Library. New worlds open up to children there.

Although I love the beach, being fair skinned, I got sunburned most of the time, in my growing up years. Skin cancer was not a worry back then. Though I do not have cancer, my skin is sun damaged. I also get sick in the full sun. I have to avoid it now

Summer wouldn’t be complete without a car trip down to the shore. We don’t do sunbathing anymore, but my husband likes to fish while standing out on a jetty. I bring a good book along. There is something refreshing and healing about the ocean air, isn’t there?

The trip wouldn’t be complete without stopping for a meal of fried whole belly clams. Yum! And I don’t mind the times we might stop for a Lobster Roll either.

Many people have told me, especially when my patience is not at its highest level, that my grandchildren are going to have such wonderful memories of what they did with their Granny. I try to keep that in front of me, when they are poking at each other and tattling on each other and saying “I am hungry” or “there is nothing to do.” I know you moms and dads know all about that!)

So,, my motivation for activities in the summer, are that I want my grandchildren to have a Granny that is reasonably happy and fun to be with. I want to be a Granny who can do cool things and think of great ideas. I also want them to mind reasonably well.

I was telling my granddaughter the other day that my two most favorite days of school were the first and the last. Her eyes got really big and said “Granny, could we have that Carnival we talked about last summer?”

I said "sure, sounds like fun to me."

To all the reader of this blog, talk to me the next day, when I am plopped on the couch, regaining my strength!