Late-Summer Guilty Pleasures
With some of the leaves in
Southeastern Kentucky already beginning to change and the weather feeling more
like fall than summer the last couple of days, I am desperately trying to cling
to the illusion of summertime freedom and fun. Since my son has already been
back to school for two weeks (yes, school starts early down here!), I have been
spending my free time indulging in many of my favorite guilty pleasures. Here
are my top five guilty pleasures:
5. Planning
weekend trips—Most people travel predominately in the high summer season,
taking their vacations for a week or two at a time. While I do take summer
trips as well, I enjoy planning trips in the summer that will occur at other
times during the year. Researching various areas of interest has always been a
quirk of mine. One of our first mini-trips this fall will be to the Natural
Bridge. The foliage there will be gorgeous in the fall, and the fishing should
still be awesome!
4. Exercising
my dog—I have a young German Shepherd that loves to fetch! He will run
after and bring back his stick or tennis ball again and again, for thirty to
forty minutes straight. Normally my arm gets tired before he does! The rain has
been tough on him, since I can’t let him out to play in the rain or after heavy
storms due to his puddle jumping. Now that the weather is beautiful again, we
try to play every day.
3. Gardening—Last week I helped harvest food
gardens for my mother-in-law with my grandmother-in-law. We put back twelve
quarts of pickled corn and thirty quarts of cut corn into her freezer. In
exchange for picking, shucking, cooking, cutting, and putting back her corn,
she let me have enough to freeze twenty-five quarts of my own! Since corn is my
favorite crop, I heavily indulged my craving throughout the preserving process.
I just hope I haven’t gained too much weight! I planted my food garden late
this year, so my own corn and beans are just now starting to ripen. I already
put back eight frozen quarts of peaches and look to do three times that many of
my pears soon. To be honest, I’ll probably just eat my beans and corn as they
become ready—fresh is always the best! I have had so many tomatoes and
cucumbers I’ve had to GIVE them away. This has been a blessed food year! Next
year I should have my plans realized for a medieval-inspired herb garden as
well. I can’t wait!
2. Napping—Once I get my son off to school about
6:30 am., I enjoy doing some work around the house or property before going
back to bed! My husband works a late shift, so I love being able to go back to
bed with him to cuddle and rest for a couple hours around eleven or noon before
going back to my activities when he gets up for the day!
1. Reading—Yes, I am addicted to the written word,
regardless of the weather! I read good writing, bad writing, and great writing.
I read free material and books and magazines I’ve purchased. I talk about my
reading, write about my reading, and read more material based on what I’ve
already read. During the summer, though, I take my books, magazines, and
e-reader outside with me. I enjoy sitting at the picnic table or under one of
my fruit trees while losing myself in my reading. I love the breeze in my hair
and the scents of flowers surrounding me while imagining I’m one of the
heroines of a love story or while studying an article about how to improve the
production of my chickens. I frequently have to force myself to put down my
reading and get out of my own head! This is truly my greatest guilty pleasure!
Summer has always been my
most cherished season, and I believe many readers share my preference for
summer weather and activities. Let us know what some of your guilty summer
pleasures are!
I really enjoyed this blog entry. Thank you Ann Roberts,
Celeste and Patricia.
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