Friday, June 5, 2009

Fish Are Jumping, and the Cotton Is High

Today's Wonder of the World is...Summertime!

Flickr photo by fourcotts
Summertime, and the living is easy...
Well mostly.
At least for Tanner the Slobber Dog.

Life's always pretty easy for that silly rascal. As long as he's willing to wear people shirts.

Can you tell by that photo that our summer is now in full swing? It started yesterday at high noon, with a sleepover blitz I like to call Testosterone Gone Wild, G version.

So far we've inhaled a year's full of smoke at the bowling alley (bringing back blissful memories of French cafes-- I have to admit I liked it,) eaten pizza, had our own version of World Wrestling Entertainment Smackdown (I just watched and trembled,) ridden bikes, played ball, sloshed batter all over my kitchen while making cupcakes, spray painted a stick, and hooked I don't know how many extension cords together to reach all the way to the tree house.

May I go on vacation now?

I know what I'll do. I'll make a list of some of the things I want to do this summer while the kids are home with me.
That might bring me peace. Perhaps. I hope.

So what if I don't get as much of my writing work done as usual.
At least summer comes with orange push ups.

Flickr photo by melissann

And wading in streams.

Flickr photo by Nathaniel Reinhart
(Doesn't that photo make you want to get your feet wet? Bravo, Nathaniel!)

And losing myself in good books.

This is the next one up on my list. Has anybody read it yet?

Summer's also the time I get to go to see my relatives in Kentucky!

Hey Patrick and Jacob, my two sweet little cousins who are now all grown up even though I refuse to believe it. In my mind you will always be sticky from watermelon juice, sitting on that stump on my granddaddy's farm.

Summertime also gives us home grown tomatoes!

See, they're coming right along now.

Summer is about the only time I watch movies.

I want to see that one next.

Summer's also a great time to teach my kids things. This summer I plan to teach Ben that I will no longer do his laundry. I plan to teach Sarah to cook our dinner twice a week. And I plan to teach Sam to say Yes Ma'am and No Ma'am. Somehow he never has caught on to that, and it's tres importante in these parts.
(By the way, would someone please tell me how to type the e in tres with an accent? I've tried doing ALT138 and blogger just has a fit. I'm finally tired of feeling like a numbskull.)

I also intend on doling out some highbrow TV education. In small doses, of course. We don't want their brains to rot. I'll sandwich the shows between starfish dissections and lectures on hydrogen bonding. Ha ha.

For Sam? Bewitched! He'll love Uncle Arthur and Dr. Bombay.


And for Ben, MASH.


For Sarah?

Northern Exposure! That one is for me too. I adore that show.

And for my sweet husband, no TV. He watches enough on the History channel.
He'd prefer this instead.

Flickr photo by AmandaCowell

So what are your plans and projects for the summer? Any suggestions?
I wish you lots of strawberry shortcake.
Have a wonder-full Friday and a super weekend, y'all!

Love, Becky

28 comments:

Ellen said...

Today is the last day of school here in WV---I've never been happier to see anything arrive! 15 days and counting down to running away from the mountains and hitting the Big Apple :)

Our big summer project here is going to be scrapbooking. We just bought our son a camera and he can't wait to get started.

Kim said...

Great post! My summer projects are making the kitchen livable (currently a storage area for junk) and taking more photos with my digital camera.

Southern Living: Preppy Style said...

Love the pics of Jacob and Patrick - too cute, and Tanner too, of course! Love to all!

jama said...

Happy Summer! Thanks for the strawberry shortcake.

Have you tried ALT 0233 (using right number keypad)?

Anonymous said...

What a fun post!

My summer projects are decluttering the house and painting our bedroom furniture, and also installing new kitchen counters.

I like yours better :)

Lisa

LW said...

I cannot believe how big your tomatoes are already...


Please tell me how you teach a young man to do laundry…every time I try I get a hug with a “but I love you mom“… I know my future daughter -in -law is going to hate me for this…



Have a wonderful weekend,

Louise

Kat said...

Oh I LOVE summer!!!
I think this summer I will be doing as much as I can to remain sane as we gut and remodel a new house, pack up and old house, and oh yeah, get ready for baby number 4!!!! ACK!!!!!! I'm gonna go crazy!!!
I guess I'll have to fit some swimming, boating, popsicle eating, watermelon, fireworks, and long walks for the boys in there somewhere. :)
I still love summer. :)

Adrienne said...

I love summer! We are easing into it with one kid home and one with two more weeks of school (poor thing...).
I can't wait to spend time at the beach. And eat loads of strawberries.

lotusgirl said...

For the accent grave type alt `/~ (key) and it gives you a highlighted `, then you type in the e and it ends up under the accent. è...voilà. It works for other vowels too. Try alt e for accent aigu, alt c for ç. Play around with it. It took me forever to figure this out. I kept doing the old way of typing alt 138, etc., for the specialty french letters and just getting frustrated. It's so much easier now. I just didn't know it.

Summer's great. We have so many plans right now that I'm already reeling from the summer and it hasn't even started. Our school gets out later than yours.

Unknown said...

Tanner is so stinkin adorable. My daughter would LOVE a dog like that--she asks me every single day for dog LOL. He looks like he has such a personality. Is he a Golden Retriever by chance?

I haven't read Olive Kitteridge yet. I have so many books to get through. Let us know how you like it.

So jealous. My few tomato plants look horrible.

Susan said...

I plan on having my hubby put shelves under the steps that lead to the basement and make an old timey pantry like they used to have with lots of canned goods and things in case of a power outage. Outside, a horse shoe pit is in the plans. I loved Northern Exposure. Remember the episode when Shelly couldn't talk, she could only sing? My favorite. Enjoy the season!

a Tonggu Momma said...

We plan to laze away our days by the side of the pool. And that's about it.

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Ellen, you're going to NYC? Lucky duck! I've never been.

Hi Kim. Kitchen organization is my constant battle.

Hey Jennifer. Hug Hollon for me.
Jama, thanks. The alt codes give blogger the burps. At least when I do them. (And you're quite welcome!)

Lisa, I so want new kitchen counters. Ours are all off kilter. I dream of silestone.

Louise, Ben is doing his best to avoid laundry. I've taught him at least three times and he claims to forget how every time he gets desperate. I WILL make him do it this summer. I'm determined! Being a cross country runner, he generates so much smelly laundry!

Kat, what you need is something else on your list. Ha ha. Good luck staying sane, my dear!

Adrienne, strawberries are definitely on my list too. Lots and lots of them!

Lois, bless your heart. I've let this go so long and it finally works! Thank you!

SVD, he is a golden, and he has personality oozing from every pore. A little too much. Have you got four or five hours? I've got stories to tell!

Susan, I LOVE that episode! That show was so original and fun. And touching and hilarious and...I could go on and on. I want an old timey pantry too. My grandma had one like that.

TM, sounds nice and peaceful. I'm sure your princess will love it!

Scarlett Fiona Reed said...

Your nephews are so cute! Since you asked, I'll tell you that I just the other day put photos of what I want to do this summer on my blog. I'm happy to say that camping, canoeing, antiquing, and good times with friends have firm plans in place :)

Jojo said...

I will be working really hard to get through June and in July my goal is to READ, READ and READ some more!

CC said...

I luvs me some summer! But our summer-like weather suddenly turned rainy. We actually had an "emergency storm broadcast" yesterday! I don't think I've ever heard one of those before. 10 more days!

R and L said...

Looking forward to summer - yard work - everything is so overgrown and under maintained, so we have our work cut out for us. We may check-out the Tall Sailing ships that will be in Charleston during Harbor Fest in a few weeks.
Love the 1st pic of kid in the hammock, and also that beautiful one of the river that is just calling me to wade through it no matter how cold, so I can step on those nice smooth river rocks. Beam me there please!
That shot of your relatives in KY is very cool too - I'm sure you'll always treasure it.
And tanner, what a pretty pose, wearing a t-shirt with attitude! "Ancient Torture Device" - looks like the old water drip, or something of the sort.
A great weekend to you and family !
Randy

Susan Sandmore said...

I totally need to come over, Becky--your summers sound great! I love all those show (and the History Channel). And orange push-ups. I love the very sight of them, even though I never actually ate them much (didn't go for the flavor). The design is just brilliant.

We did the ten-cent freeze pop thing all the time. I bet you did, too!

At our house, summer is about to officially begin and so far it's meant frizzy hair (the humidity!), mosquito bites, sidewalk chalk, swimming pools, and movie stars (okay, no movie stars--unless you count that Jon and Kate Plus 8 Minus One was in town).

Have to let my slobber dog out (is yours wearing a T-shirt?). Come on over this way again, sometime--please?

ToddR said...

Colleen, your summer looks great. I wish my summer plans would take me to California! Your shop would definitely be on my list!

Jojo, me too. The pile of books on my nightstand keeps falling over.

CC, I bet everything looks so green. I'm thinking Forks in Twilight.

Randy, we might just have to check out Harbor Fest for ourselves. And that ancient torture device on Sam's/Tanner's shirt? A school desk!

Susan, you really should make a visit! Yes, we do those cheapy freeze pop things too--except they're banned at the moment from my house. My slobs/boys kept leaving the empty wrappers all over the place so I made a stand and stopped buying them. We even used to buy them in France--I think they were called Monsieur Freeze?

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Oops. I guess the computer was signed in under Todd's account. That's me.

May Vanderbilt said...

I have so many projects for the summer:

1) Keep my basil plant alive in the cold, clammy SF weather.

2) Con my husband into helping me paint the living room at long last.

3) Go to Peru and volunteer in an orphanage for a week (July).

Thank you for that video at the end. I'm obsessed with old-fashioned boardwalk theme parks. We had one in my town growing up!

Anonymous said...

I would love to wade in that stream!

lotusgirl said...

Becky, I so glad that it worked for you. I was worried that it might not work on your computer. I was so thrilled when I figured this out. I use it all the time now. Glad I could share!

Kelly H-Y said...

Thank you ... I feel much more inpsired and ready for the summer now!!!! Lovely post!!!

Rosemary said...

Happy Summer!!
You and I have the same TV shows in common. Love those!!
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend,
Rosemary
PS, my summer project is my daughter's baby shower.

Unknown said...

Yummm! That popsicle looks good! :)

R and L said...

It's very infrequent for me, but when I use special characters this is what I do in Windows:
Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Character Map
This brings up a window where you can choose most any character for any language and/or font, and also gives you the alt-#, but I usually just do the copy. I'll try it here to see if it works in these blog comments => è this one's in Arial
Randy

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Oh yes, you will love Olive Kitteridge! I read it a couple of months ago and found it moving, funny and wise. Simply marvelous prose!!

Happy summer weekend!!