Dear Kid,

Depending on how one counts these things, summer is some fraction over (am I a math whiz or what?). So I thought I’d make a list of things I want to do before we run out of summer. Perhaps you should make a list too, because before you know it, summer will be gone and it will be time to take you to college. Yark!

Things I Still Want To Do This Summer

1. Go to the movies. I still want to see Monster University and Despicable Me 2 (whether or not you want to go with me). I’d love to take you, but under no circumstances do you get to stuff a sock in my mouth because I’m laughing.

2. Eat some more Kid-style grilled food. Which means we need to get some gas for the grill. And find some sunshine. And find an evening when you’re home to cook. All at the same time…

3. Spend a lazy afternoon watching the birds from the hammock. See above comment about sunshine and free time.

4. Have dinner outside around a fire. Ditto time and nice weather. Are you sensing a theme here?

5. Go out for breakfast. Care to join me? This one doesn’t require any particular kind of weather!

6. Try the climbing wall. Walking past the climbing wall at the Rec Center on a regular basis has inspired me to want to try to climb. Yes, our insurance is paid up.

7. See West Side Story. The summer performance at the High School is West Side Story. Both E-Beth and Amara are in it. I think it will be fun to go, even though Tony dies in the end. I’d love to find out what other schools are performing—there might be other shows we’d want to see.

8. Go to a county fair. When I was a wee young thing, Grandma and Grandpa used to take us to the Duchess County Fair every year. I don’t think I have been to a county fair since then and I’m pretty sure you and Pi have never been to one. Def on the list.

9. Visit the Brazee Street Studios. My understanding is that they do interesting things in glass (although I doubt we’ll see ‘clouds of liquid glass’) and other media. They’ve gotten some very interesting write ups and I’d like to check it out.

10. Relax. I know there are a zillion squillion (my big number for the day) things to do in this area. But I’m looking forward to sitting around and visiting before we lose you. (Maybe with a s’more?)

Did you notice that these don’t require a great deal of work on your part? Perhaps I’ll need to come up with another list….What do you still want to do this summer?

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

It is about 6 zillion degrees in the shade and it’s not even the middle of the day. We have skipped directly from Monsoon Season to August in the Desert without stopping for Lovely Summer Days. Crazy midwest weather.

110 in the Shade is a musical about hot, dry weather in the southwest and a con man who says he can make it rain. (It was written by the same team who wrote The Fantastics.) I saw a production of it at the City Opera in New York and I am convinced that there was a song in it called—or with the refrain—My Skin Don’t Fit. However, I can find absolutely no record of this particular song and even Uncle D just shrugged when I asked him about it many a moon ago. Since I am not a composer, I’m pretty sure I didn’t make up the entire song. I am equally sure I have mixed up the facts thoroughly enough that I may never figure out what song I’m remembering (or misremembering). If you stumble across it, please let me know.

Have you heard of exoplanets? Someone has made up a new word (and a new field of study) for planets that revolve around stars other than our sun. I have no idea why they are not just called ‘planets’—it seems rather exclusionary to call them exoplanets and there are a LOT of them.

This week, astronomers proved that HD 189733b (astronomers need to take lessons from the people who name nail polish imho) is deep blue and covered in clouds of liquid glass. The scientists are twelve kinds of excited about the deep blue part (it has something to do with this being the first time they’ve been able to use the Crayola box when describing an exoplanet – feel free to go investigate that more on your own). I love blue—which you know because you’ve lived in a house with a blue dining room for a long time but that’s another story—but it seems to me that ‘clouds of liquid glass’ is much more interesting. Think about it: I don’t know that I have ever seen clouds of liquid anything. I’ve seen molten glass (I LOVE Corning, NY) but never liquid glass. I’ve never contemplated clouds of glass, liquid or otherwise. The entire phrase makes me want to redecorate. The deep blue is just an added bonus.

Since the temperature is already so ridiculous, I don’t even plan to pretend that I might tend to some of the weeding today. Instead, I think we’ll go shop for towels and pillows and other college necessities. Then perhaps sweat at the gym.

I’m also hoping to get some cooking done for the week so we can stop opening the refrigerator and staring at empty shelves hoping something resembling food will magically appear.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

I had a brilliant idea last night for how to make a zillion dollars. We should create a calendar called College Men and Their Mascots. Think about it: You, the guitar, Rufus the Ohio University Bobcat. Rinse and repeat at other schools. I think it’s brilliant. Unless someone is already doing it in which case it’s less than brilliant. Either way, I’ll take a dozen copies.

It is a gorgeous day here in Southwest Ohio. You would not know about that since you are still fast asleep. Make a note: another reason to sleep at college is that mornings are (often) really nice times.

I have high hopes for getting everyone working together today to get some of the gardens cleaned up. The War of the Weeds is in full swing and I’m not sure the good guys (meaning me) are winning right now.

I’m also hoping to take a (figurative) weed whacker to the study today. During the Great Pre-Graduation Clean Up it became something of a dumping ground. I’d like to locate a desk somewhere under the piles of stuff. If I don’t emerge after about four hours, please send in a rescue squad to be sure I haven’t been eaten Little Shop of Horrors (The Desk) style.

The summer seems to be absolutely flying by. June is practically over and Pi comes home from camp in a week.

Today is Waffle Iron Day (I kid you not). Why anyone would devote an entire day to a waffle iron is a little beyond me. Waffles, yes. Waffle Iron? Not so much.

Also, on this day in history, the first canned beer went on sale, clearing the way for millions of men boys people nutjobs to make Crushing the Beer Can on Your Forehead a popular, if painful, pastime. It is worth noting that cans were made by the American Can Company which (several decades later) would award me a scholarship for graduate school. (I never entirely understood why, but it was very helpful and I am Most Appreciative.) Beer cans are also quite useful for making beer can chicken on the grill.

Try to remember there are no Points in Life handed out for hurting yourself with a beer can.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

Today feels like summer. I think it’s more about what we did today than about the weather (although the weather is most assuredly summer-ish).

After weeding for a while (and losing about 27 pounds of water weight in the 90 degree weather), Booker and I spent about half an hour in the hammock. Because it’s a rope hammock, he lay on my tummy. He was a little nervous, but once he settled down we had a nice snuggle. There was a lovely breeze and we were in the shade which made it absolutely delightful.

This afternoon I finally got the closet in the laundry room cleaned out. It is amazing how many pairs of sneakers and soccer cleats were in there. It’s like they are the opposite of socks—instead of half the pair disappearing, they breed. Is there such a thing as birth control for sneakers?

I thought we might have a cookout tonight, but there is next to no food in the house. Then I thought maybe we’d have a fire, but it’s Stanley Cup night so I’m pretty sure there won’t be any outdoor activities (at least not until we install the outdoor tv which will happen never). So I’ll have to pretend about summer food. Perhaps we can have some of the veggies growing in the garden. That might feel summer-ish.

What is your favorite summer food, kid?

Love, Mom

“Individuals play the game, but teams beat the odds.” – SEAL Team Saying

Dear Kid,

Summer is off to a fine start. When we’re not in the midst of a monsoon, the sun is shining and the spinach is growing. There are s’mores to be made, lawns to be mowed, pools to be splashed in—in short: summer.

With all those fine, frolicsome activities comes the start of The Summer Job. Summer jobs are wonderful for all sorts of reasons. You meet new people, you earn some money, you learn about the “real world” work environment, and – perhaps most importantly – you’re out of the house  and off the couch for part of the week.

Working with new teams can be an interesting experience. The team you find yourself working on can make all the difference in how you view your job.

There are teams where you fit in immediately (camp comes to mind). These are the teams made up of people you feel like you known forever even though you met them thirty seconds ago. They are people you’d like to hang out with when you’re not at work.

There are teams you fit into pretty quickly but on a more professional level. You’ll never be ‘besties’ or get together outside of the office (or warehouse or restaurant or whatever), but they are nice people and make for a pleasant and cooperative work environment. Once the job is over, you probably won’t stay in touch, but that’s ok.

Then there are the teams where one or more member poisons the environment either by attitude or by skill level (guess which is more likely). Being on a team like that can be crazy hard as the team figures out what to do about the problem child (Teach him? Help him? Cover for him? Rat him out? Force him to eat homegrown spinach?).

I hope your job turns out to be all good things and that you enjoy the people you work with.

Please fill the bird feeders.

Love, Mom