Just Do It for Fun
Here are more ideas for simple pleasures to get summer juices flowing, from Natural Awakenings publishers and staff around the country.
Picture perfect. I’d like to spend a month this summer at my friend’s house
and set up my camera on a tripod near her bird feeders. She welcomes flocks of red and yellow finches, cardinals, blue jays and woodpeckers, all of which are fun to photograph. Plus, her flower gardens are awesome. Summer, here I come! ~ Linda Sechrist, writer and editor, Nashville, Tennessee
Stargazing… on land. Graphic
Designer Steve Hagewood, of Bonita Springs, Florida, grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, where he began a lifelong fascination with the night sky. “Pop bought a pair of high-powered mili- tary binoculars at an army surplus sale after the big war; I had a smaller pair from Sears Roebuck & Co. We would wrangle in good spirits over who got which pair and how long each of us could hold onto them amid the still- ness of the cool, night air filled with the sweet fragrances of honeysuckle and moonflowers,” he remembers. … and on water. Peggy Malecki,
Natural Awakenings’ Chicago publisher, loves the starry view from a friend’s sail- boat on Lake Michigan. On one notable trip in a race across the lake, “In the wee hours of the midnight watch, the entire Milky Way galaxy stretched directly over the top of the boat as we caught small zephyrs off Traverse Bay,” she says. “Watching the Perseid meteor shower, we counted shooting stars and watched for satellites crawling through the night sky.”
Personal Pursuits “Having space and time to nurture our creativity may be one of people’s authentic hungers,” muses author Sarah Ban Breathnach, well-known for her Simple Abundance books. She suggests maybe allotting an hour a day to dabble in a hobby, to paint, to plot or to throw pots. It can feel like taking a little vaca- tion every day. “Some days are shaped by sum- mer pleasures, others are redeemed by them,” concludes Breathnach in Simple Pleasures. Making time for such simple joys nurtures an ongoing summer vaca- tion state of mind.
Claire O’Neil is a freelance writer in Kansas City, MO.
18 NA Twin Cities Edition
Potluck block party. Every second Sunday, our next-door neighbors would host a summer barbecue potluck that transformed into a mini-block party. Kids, parents and grandparents brought lawn chairs and set up rows of card tables covered with colorful camp blankets and old tablecloths. Someone always remembered to add a few Mason jars filled with puffy, purple-tinged hydrangeas, dainty red- and yellow-spurred columbines or the simple cheer of sunflowers. We feasted on grilled goodies, accompanied by plump tomatoes, crisp
cucumbers, raw carrot strips and steamed corn on the cob, all freshly picked that day from backyard gardens. Homemade baked beans sizzled in a pottery crock. If we were lucky, as a special treat, big wedges of sweet, ice-cold watermelon arrived as dessert. ~ Barb Amrhein, editor, Naples, Florida
Day at the beach. If there’s sun in the skies, you can safely bet that I’m sit-
ting on my oceanside beach chair (which includes a beverage cup and foot rest) soaking up the rays, protected by natural sunscreen. With our house just three doors from paradise, we take advantage of it all summer long. ~ Julia Lopez-Motherway, publisher, Long Island, New York
Instant comfort. The neighborhood hangout spot when I was a kid was the garden of the only childless couple in our neighborhood. Many times we trekked home with gift bags full of ripe produce, a memory that surfaces every time I smell a freshly picked tomato. ~ Maisie Raftery, publisher, Boston, Massachusetts
Fun and games. As kids, a dozen of us liked to gather at the cul-de-sac at the top of our long and winding hill as soon as it was dark for a game of flash- light tag, a battery-powered version of hide-and-go-seek. The crickets would start chirruping and the forest behind our houses closed in, offset a bit by the sounds of after-dinner cleanup and televised news through open windows. If you were hit with the light, you had to surrender and the first one found became the next seeker; the rest of us, guided by the light in the stillness of the night, would sneak up and scare the heck out of whoever was “it”. ~ Terry Chriswell, publisher, Denver, Colorado
Unplugging once a week. One of the perks of living on the Eastern Shore of
Mobile Bay is the amazing sunsets. On Fridays after a long workweek, we pack up for our own brand of happy hour on the bluff overlooking the city pier. We bring along a blanket to sit on, our favorite beverage and a snack to enjoy as we enjoy a simple evening of good conversation and a beautiful view. ~ Meredith Montgomery, publisher, Mobile/Baldwin, Alabama
River tubing. I love to dip my toes, fingers and backside into the cool, clear
waters of a local river and let the current take me away; enjoying nature at its best is only enhanced by the playful noises of fellow loungers. It is a true delight! ~ Karen Goins, publisher, San Antonio, Texas
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