Friday Five: Hot Town, Summer in the City...

Friday Five from the RevGalBlogPals...

...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)

Food: Steamed crabs, hands down. Devilled eggs, Raspberries. Blueberries. Especially over home-made ice cream.

Beverages: Iced tea.

2. Song that "says" summer to you. (Need not be about summer explicitly.)

For some reason, “Brown-Eyed Girl.” Also “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” probably because it was very popular one summer when I spent a lot of time by the pool listening to the radio. Any camp song.

3. A childhood summer memory

Long car rides to visit family; this was pre-air-conditioning in cars, so it was hot and sticky and my sister always sat on my side of the backseat.

Sitting in the breezeway (screened porch between the garage and main house) with my family eating dinner or watching TV or reading. We lived out there in July and August.

4. An adult summer memory

German beer gardens, sitting under the chestnut trees, drinking a radler-mass (half lager beer, half lemon soda), eating roast chicken and listening to jazz.

Lying on the beach at Rehoboth or Dewey Beach, going into a sort of zen trance; the sound of the waves mesmerising me, the cries of the seagulls and children a counterpoint, the warmth of the sun baking me…a state between awake and asleep. Very restorative.

5. Describe a wonderful summer day you'd like to have in the near future. (weather, location, activities)

Now are we talking reality here or fantasy? I’ll do both.

Reality (i.e. what’s likely to happen): Gardening in the morning, with a leisurely lunch on the porch, followed by a stroll downtown with friends, perhaps dinner at an outdoor café, and the evening spent, again, on the porch with them in conversation and drinking good wine.

Fantasy: At my seaside cottage, with my (currently non-existent) significant other; stay abed late, luxurious brunch on the deck overlooking the water, followed by an afternoon on our beach, swimming and sunning, then dinner with friends on the deck with a sunset sail afterwards and nightcaps by the fireplace (it gets chilly by the water after dark).

I notice these have in common: friends, food, being outside, and certain beverages.. I’m not quite sure what that says about me.

Optional: Does your place of worship do anything differently in the summer? (Fewer services, casual dress, etc.)

In the past, we’ve moved to the basement. I think we’ll stay where we are for now, in a smaller room upstairs that is air-conditioned. It’s more intimate, anyway.