Sunday Stealing

(Link in meme-roll)
A Summer* Meme

1.) What first tells you that Summer is here?

Not needing (or, really, wanting) to wear a jacket outside.

2.) Name your five of your favorite distinctively Summer habits or customs.

Bare feet, shorts/short pants, regular pedicures, itching and sneezing, sitting on the front porch.

3.) What is your favorite smell of Summer?

I do like the smell of cut grass.

4.) What is your favorite taste of Summer?

Fresh garden stuff. I don't like it enough to produce my own garden, mind you, but it's lovely to have fresh herbs and lettuce and fruit from farmstands.

5.) Favorite Summer memory?

So many good vacations. So many sunburns (I'm probably carrying pre-melanoma cells in my nose and shoulders at this point). So much running through the hose and going on picnics. Nowadays, I don't go outside unless I have to. Allergy season began for me about 10 days ago and I won't get real relief now till the first frost. My eyes, throat, and ears itch constantly in the summer.

6.) Extreme heat or extreme cold? Which would you choose and why?

I'd rather be hot, honestly. Not that I like being sweaty--it has to be low-humidity hot. Never happens here though.

7.) What books do you plan to read for the season?

I have a huge stack of Advance Reading Copies I absolutely MUST finish this summer. It's not going well though; I keep bringing home books from work.

8.) What is your favorite part of Summer?

The dog days: the really super hot, shimmery calm days in August, when the crickets have begun to sing.

9.) What's your favorite quintessentially Summer food? Least favorite?

Sweet corn--which I can't strip anymore because I'm horribly allergic to the pollen (and perhaps have developed a food intolerance to it too)--is my favorite. I like the idea of watermelon, and the color, but I absolutely can't eat it. Yuck. I always think of my dad spittin' seeds though, which makes me happy.

10.) Best beverage to beat the Summer heat?

Cool water.

11.) Least favorite/most annoying thing related to Summer?

Mosquitoes and humidity. They go together.

12.) Pick one: the lake/the beach.

Choice C: the mountains.

13.) Most amusing Summer vacation trip you've ever taken?

"Amusing"? Hmmm. The best funny stories were from our driving trip to Moosehead Lake, Maine, when Sparky was 8ish. We drove through Canada to get there, and came home via New York State, so it was a long "circle." Sparky got margaritas spilled on him, caught a fish in the lake, was pushed IN the lake by "killer ducks" trying to drown him, and we watched as monkeys removed every piece of weather stripping from the car in front of us at a safari park. Also, we visited several towns along the way that share the name of the town in which we were living at that time. It was a pretty good trip. The car we drove is in our driveway now, waiting for its new owner, still running fine. Yay, Honda!

14.) Most ridiculous/cringe-inducing/blush-provoking Summer outfit you have seen? (Bonus points if you yourself were wearing it!)

Well, there was the bikini my mother made me one teenaged year out of bright yellow stretchy knit. It was, uhm, hideous, very 70s, and also completely inappropriate for my (lack of) bust. I only wore it to 'lay out' in the backyard though. No pics. Sorry. ;-)

15.) Your absolute dream Summer afternoon would be

Sitting in the sun in our backyard with no chance of having allergy problems and zero humidity. Reading a book. Drinking water. Watching neighborhood kids play. Dozing.Moving the chair/chaise regularly to stay in the sun.

16.) If you could go anywhere on Summer vacation where would you go?

The mountains. At this point, I'm far from fussy about WHICH mountains, too.

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* The wife of a good friend of ours is named Summer. Because of the capitalization of the word "Summer" in each of the questions, I had a good giggle while doing this meme.