MetaChat - Summertime Checklist

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05 July 2006

Summertime Checklist →[More:]

Summer is a short and precious season in Northern New England. An organized approach is called for! What am I forgetting, bunnies? What's on your list?

Things to eat:
_Watermelon slice
_Ice cream cone (chocolate chip mint with chocolate sprinkles)
_Grilled hot dog (Nathan's or Hebrew Nat'l) Check!
_Grilled burger Check!
_Insalata Caprese
_Raspberries Check!
_Strawberry Shortcake (homemade)
_Sno Cone (raspberry)
_Ice Cream Cake (birthday)
_Grilled boardwalk hot dog
_Jersey tomato
_Grilled sweet corn
_Those delicate little fried onion rings without batter that you get at the fair

Things to drink
_Margaritas
_Brewed iced tea with mint
_Ice cold lager beer Check!
_Root beer float

Things to do:
_Run through sprinkler
_Plunge into lake after running down floating dock
_Plunge into ocean after getting really hot and sunny on beach
_Bury toes in cool sand
_Smell like Coppertone
_Buy something useless in one of those beachside shops that carries flip flops, towels, lawnchairs, pails, Hawaiian Tropic, cheap sunglasses, and straw hats
_Camp out
_Listen to outdoor concert while lying on back staring at nearby blades of grass and watching kids run around
_Watch fireflies
_Light sparklers and other combustibles
_Go tide-pooling
_Watch sunset from porch Check!
_Listen to The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle really loud while on a long highway drive

post by: Miko at: 11:31 | 16 comments

x Avoid lists

Why can't we use the <u> tag?

posted by Wolfdog 05 July | 11:39

Miko - Bunnystock?

posted by rainbaby 05 July | 11:41

I've been listening to several different versions of Summertime; including Al Green, Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane and another version that is escaping me at the moment. Al Green's version is my favorite.

posted by sciurus 05 July | 11:44

This question discriminates against Australians.

posted by matildaben 05 July | 11:49

This is such a great list! What are the true dog days up there? How long is it really sweltering for?

I second everything on your list, and add

To eat:
-gazpacho
-bruschetta - sliced Italian bread that's been charred on an open grill, with chopped summer tomatoes, fresh basil, onion and garlic on top
-fresh sushi
-funnel cake
-boardwalk fries
-gelato

To drink:
-pina colada
-strawberry daquiri
-homemade lemonade

Things to do:
-paint freed toenails ultra-cool color for summer
-put blonde streaks in hair
-buy heavy tomes to use as beach books - they can double as weights to hold down the corners of your beach blanket
-skip rocks on a pond
-go tubing
-go to a water park
-sit on a creaky porch swing and read
-discover a sand bar in the ocean and lay claim to it for the day
-build a sandcastle

posted by iconomy 05 July | 11:51

Oh and here the things I've done from your list so far this summer:

_Watermelon slice
_Insalata Caprese
_Raspberries
_Sno Cone
_Jersey tomato
_Grilled sweet corn
_Brewed iced tea with mint
_Run through sprinkler
_Plunge into ocean after getting really hot and sunny on beach
_Bury toes in cool sand
_Buy something useless in one of those beachside shops that carries flip flops, towels, lawnchairs, pails, Hawaiian Tropic, cheap sunglasses, and straw hats
_Listen to outdoor concert while lying on back staring at nearby blades of grass and watching kids run around
_Watch fireflies
_Light sparklers and other combustibles
_Watch sunset from porch

posted by iconomy 05 July | 11:58

LT's list:

- watch live baseball
- sit at cafe Check!
- drowse in sunlight Check!
- play with dogs Check!
- fall in love (redo this one every season)

Everything else is gravy.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 05 July | 12:20

- veggie dog/NotDog! check!

posted by shane 05 July | 12:44

This question discriminates against Australians.

I know. That ran through my mind when I was posting it. But maybe they can bookmark it and update in six months.

What are the true dog days up there? How long is it really sweltering for?

This is only my second full summer up here. So far, it looks like the real dog days are basically just the first couple of weeks in August. I have yet to buy an air conditioner; it hasn't been truly hot long enough to really need one.

It's quite different from the mid-Atlantic or even Southeastern New England, because it's almost never uncomfortably hot. Though the days can easily reach the 90s and be humid, the nights seem to cool down very regularly. I'd say that 'summer', as such, exists for about 10 weeks up here. Which is much too short for me, but I'll take what I can get. Even though the season seems to fly between the mud-and-rain time of spring and the leaf-peeping time of late September, because it's short people treat it really well. There's a sparkly, shimmery, pristine quality to a Northern New England summerlife.

posted by Miko 05 July | 12:46

S'mores.
Roasted Corn at a large public event at Seattle Center.

posted by matildaben 05 July | 12:49

- fall in love (redo this one every season)

Well, that's been on my list for a long, long time. Pen hovers over the blank - check, not check? Faint check? Star the item to return to later? Dunno. But summer is a particularly good time to prioritize this list item, true.

Reasons to fall in love in summer:

-You don't have to imagine the fireworks.
-Less clothing to bother with
-Outdoor environments are not too cold for spontaneous extended smooching (though taking precautions against biting insects is recommended)
-Everything's beautiful
-Many flowers are available in city gardens, people's yards, and wild fields for picking surprise bouquets and tucking behind ears and in buttonholes
-Juicy sensuous foods like strawberries and peaches abound
-People just look nicer a little sun-kissed and sand-covered, or with blades of grass in their hair and mud on their jeans from scrambling around outside, or in sundresses and sandals
-No awkward complicating holidays like Valentime's or New Year's
-Lots of opportunity for goofily romantic escapades like riding crazy rides on the boardwalk, playing games of skill at the fair, paddling canoes, going to the petting zoo, playing mini golf, etc
-A century's worth of 'summer love' pop songs which could all be 'your song'

Man, am I in a list-making mood today. Both of these lists were much more fun to make than the dreary to-do list I just made for work. (Work! )

posted by Miko 05 July | 14:05

This summer (hopefully)...

-road trips with jon (Cooperstown, Graceland, the nudie beach again, maybe Dollywood, that drive-in movie motel in Vermont, I think, if it's still there...)
-Mets game (at least one, dammit!)
-sit on the back porch watching trains and planes go by, listening to music, reading a good book, sipping something good (gin and tonic, margarita...), daydreamin'...
-(work on my novel? yes, yes... sit my butt in a chair a few hours a day and write... why do novels have to be so loooong?)
-spend time with mom
-get a tattoo
-(read the summer reading books I assigned my AP students... at least they're good... Color of Water, by James McBride, and Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina Garcia)
-get a long overdue checkup (not fun, but hey...)
-fix up apartment (clear out boxes, new shelves, flowers for porch...)
-play with sparklers
-eat ice cream (vanilla/chocolate swirl cone with rainbow sprinkles, please)
-peel sunburnt skin (mine, or anyone elses)
-eat lobster, with lots of melted butter
-turn 40, and not mind so much
-Coney Island
-maybe Seattle and/or Vegas, if jon gets laid-off in time (and money holds out)

posted by Pips 05 July | 14:32

(there's a lot of pressure on summer, isn't there...?)

posted by Pips 05 July | 14:38

*this* summer?

__work

posted by Doohickie 05 July | 22:36

Blueberries! The sweet ones that look like fat little wheels.

Get the piece of paperwork I need to turn into the condo board so that the work on my kitchen--which should have been done a year ago-- can start.

(I had a pipe dream of buying a certain famous actor's house, but the place needs WAY too much work)

I LOVED Color of Water! What other books are on the list?

posted by brujita 05 July | 23:14

check, not check? Faint check? Star the item to return to later?

Check!

posted by Miko 15 July | 23:45

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