Summertime Funtime
It certainly took long enough this year, but it is summer! I know I am supposed to be a snowboarder, but I have no complaints about this season. I’ll take the heat, the sun and happily trade dirty mountain condos for luxurious lakeside houses any day. I did attempt to snowboard, twice, before deciding I’d rather save it for winter. It seems now that I’ve retired from stunts, there’s not much for me to do up at summer camp other than leg burning laps through slushy snow. Plus, there is plenty to do down here.
Summer Fun idea #1: Oaks Park
You know those scary-looking carnivals that pop up on the side of the road in the summer. The ones with rides that may fall down at any minute? Well Portland has a permanent one! Jared and I went down to check it out last weekend, got nauseous on a couple rides, and then he won me a candy necklace by throwing a dart. I had my choice between the candy or a plastic hat, and while I may have gotten more long term use out of the hat, I feel good about my decision.
Summer Fun idea #2: Wakeskating
After more or less retiring because I was too lazy to ever drive to Salem, I discovered a friend with a boat 15 minutes away. Yes, the water is downstream from downtown Portland, and it’s sort of cold, but man is it fun. With enough evening sessions, after the kooks have gone home, I might even get good at it. But probably not.
Summer fun idea #3: Eating!
This morning I rode my bike to the fruit stand and bought raspberries to put on homemade waffles. If that doesn’t scream summer, I don’t know what does. In the last week, I’ve also made a cherry pie, cherry stuffed grilled chicken, fresh pesto with the basil plant you can buy at Trader Joes for cheaper than you can get a package of the stuff at Safeway, etc etc etc. I always make sure to eat well, but in the summer it’s even better.
Summer fun idea #4: Gardening
The cold spring was not really that nice to my garden. My beans didn’t come up, and my cucumbers died before they even started. I did harvest some peas (made shrimp with pea pods and a pea pod salad that were pretty good) but those have died off in the heat now. The zucchini are looking promising though, and even though I have spent way more money on plants, fertilizer, etc then I would spend on produce, it still feels like free food when you pick it and eat it.
Summer fun idea #5: Outside Time
I realized recently that this is the 4th summer I’ve been in my house. In that time we’ve managed to take the yard from useless, to fricken sweet, so one of my favorite things is to just sit on the back deck. Today, Tyra mastered fetch, which was probably the most productive thing that’s happened back there this summer, to give you an idea of what goes on. I’m into it.
Of course, there are other things too. Skateboarding is cool, I do that sometimes. Yesterday we floated the Clackamas, which is a good once-a-year occasion. (I can only handle so many bad tattoos…) And there is no better way to spend an evening than a BBQ. Seeing as the CW is already advertising it’s new September shows, summer will be over before we know it, so I’m gonna quit this blogging crap and go work on my tan!