Friday 16 August 2013

LATE-SUMMER GUILTY PLEASURES...ANN ROBERTS


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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