I am in love with summer. Here are my top reasons why.

1.  Vacations by the water.
I go a bit crazy when I haven't seen the ocean in more than a few months. Summer is of course the best time to go to the shore.  The water is a bit cold around here, but I'm fine just to hole up in the sand with a sun umbrella, read a good book, take a nap, and wait for the sunset.



2.  Garden Bounty.

I love nothing more than a fresh salad made of lettuce from my garden, tomatoes from my garden, vinaigrette with herbs from my garden, cucumber from my garden, carrots from my garden... you get the idea.

3.  Open windows.

I hate all winter when the house is stuffy but too cold to open the windows. Summertime means open windows at night, when the air is cool and wet and smells like wonderful.

4.  Faster rush hour.    Do you also notice your commute gets shorter in summer when all those crazy kids aren't riding or driving to school each day?

5.  Finally: spiked lemonade.  Need I explain?

Here is a recipe.