Summer

Ah, summer. Apparently the new trend is that it remains cool and very, very rainy in Madrid. Then overnight, it heats up to eleventy billion degrees. Or at least 80-something. I swear, last week I was wearing a sweater and today it was roasting. Go figure.

Since we finally had beautiful blue sky and warmth today, we went in the pool after we picked up the kids from school. It was glorious. This year they got the mix of heat and chemicals right the first time. Last summer the pool was forever too cold or had too many chemicals or whatever. Today it was beautiful. It finally feels like summer.

The balcony doors are open, the hammocks are hung. This morning I sat on the balcony and had some toast and coffee. Lexi, (the dog) sat at the other little chair across from me. We had a very pleasant time.

The best of summer starts after Friday though, when the kids are done with school and mornings can be leisurely and chill. I’m ready for things to slow down.

We’re kicking off the summer with a futbol (that’s soccer to you Americans) party. Spain is playing Greece in the Euro Cup. Apparently the game doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things but we’re going to have fun anyway!

Bring on summer!

It’s late so my energy level to write something coherent and cohesive or codependent and coexistent, is pretty dang low. I had some ideas to write about how I actually prefer winter to summer. I was gonna “diss” summer and then come ‘round and say what I liked about summer. I was gonna do it in a roundabout kinda way, hopefully sprinkling in a joke or two, but I couldn’t figure out the best way to do it, so basically I’m left with a one-word topic that leaves me as flat as a duck’s foot. So, I’m just gonna do some random one-word free association and hopefully you’ll be able to make sense of it and just how I feel about summers past and present, and especially how Suzanne Somers makes me smile and choke all at once.

Okay, here goes, my typewritten Rorschach test.

Summer, heat, beat, drums, chicken legs, Kentucky, cousin, Tracy, blonde, crush, lake, camp, tent, fire, marshmallows, ‘smores, stories, ghosts, dark, stars, planets, aliens, Close Encounters, Richard Dreyfuss, sunburn, mashed potatoes, butter, salted, corn, state fair, horses, mini donuts, sugar, sticky, humid, mosquitoes, gnats, basketball, slam dunk, David Munger, Old Spice, rollerskating, sucking face, cruising chicks, swimming, skinny dipping, nightswimming, REM, Losing My Religion, finding God, crying, changing, laughing, telling jokes, playing pranks, ding dong ditch, hide and seek, kick the can, red rover, stealing bikes, fireworks, roman candles, cherry bombs.

This is what summer means to me.