Happy Summer Solstice to you, dear readers. It’s decidedly summer here: 75 and sunny and the bikinis are at the beach. We had a fun beach day yesterday to celebrate Father’s Day and I was very concerned about Wren’s precious skin so she was generously slathered with sunscreen, but I neglected to do the same for my own skin. Result? The season’s first (and hopefully, last) sunburn. Oops. Sigh.

Because I’m a list-maker and my Spring Forward list kept me focused on enjoying Spring’s delights, I will do the same for summer. So here goes…

• pick lots of strawberries and blueberries to enjoy and put up for a long winter
• enjoy a huge, fresh sandwich from the Village Cheese Shanty in Leland
• feel good after running the National Cherry Festival 15K – this is coming up more quickly than I thought so we’ll see how good I feel…
• I know I said (err, wrote) at some point about how I WAS NOT going to make marshmallows from scratch (so utterly Martha), but with it being s’mores season and all, I’m inspired to make some marshmallows, roast them (a bit burnt is my style), then sandwich them with some really good chocolate between a couple graham cracker pieces. Wondering if I will notice a difference. What do you think?
• spend lots of evenings on the porch with dear Chris
• wear a pretty sundress while playing bocce and sipping a fancy cocktail
• swim, swim, swim, swim. A lot.
• eat lots of salads and grilled meat. Yes!
• enjoy my annual corn dog and maybe even an elephant ear or funnel cake… oof.
• make progress on my Dairy Lodge Diet. I’ve been slacking lately and I need to get back at it!
• take Wren to her first Northwest Michigan Fair. “Goin’ to the fair, goin’ to the fair, goin’ to the Northwest Michigan Fair!”
• frequent our local farmer’s markets and art fairs
• have a big garage sale and get rid of some stuff (err, junk)
• visit Werner’s vineyard. He makes my favorite local wine: Left Foot Charley’s Pinot Blanc. Lovely!
• pickle something from my garden
• make some kind of jam. Strawberry?
• be overwhelmed with harvesting all the veggies from my garden. This would be a good problem to have. We’ll see… so far, so good.
• enjoy the summer sunrises as much as the sunsets
• stay up late to be awed by the Perseid meteor showers in August
• picnic, picnic, picnic. Doesn’t everything taste better when you’re eating it outside?
• erect our hammock and enjoy a few lazy moments
• read a book. The whole book. Wow, what an idea! Got any suggestions?
• run through the sprinkler
• chase the ice cream truck
• be barefoot most of the time
• make Wren’s play kitchen – similar to this one
• create bouquets from our zinnias and bells of ireland
• dance with the little birdie at the Cedar Polka Fest. She is going to LOVE it!
• get on the water in someone else’s boat… anyone?
• take Chris out to eat at Siren Hall for a date night
• take in a few films at the Traverse City Film Festival
• do a weekend camping trip and eat hot dogs, plain potato chips, a bottle of Faygo rock & rye and german potato salad from a can
• sleep outside
• enjoy a campfire and cheesy camp songs

Oh my, I could go on, but I better stop. If I think of more, I’ll add them later… What do you look forward to this summer?

Happy longest day of the year, lovelies! Any fun pagan rituals planned for tonight? Enjoy!