the magic of summer

There is a magical sensation about the season of summer. Fireflies glittering in the night sky, baseball games and hot dogs, grilled corn on the cob, Independence Day fireworks and cookouts, sleepover pool parties where you swim into the night. Those are just a few things I love.


One of my favorite books Summer: a User's Guide (by Suzanne Brown) has this to say about summer:
"I'm madly in love with summer and the feelings it evokes- the carefree spirit of freedom and adventure that fall, winter, and spring simply don't provide. Summer entices us to lose our inhibitions, to have fun, to be curious, and to seek adventure."


Every summer there is always an unforgettable adventure that happens. Last summer it was our sailing adventure that my Uncle Jeff took us on to an uninhabited island
where we got lost during a thunderstorm. Summer before that it was a side trip to the coast of Italy that included sleeping on the floor of a train station to get there.


Whatever you do in these next two months, try to make this summer one big unforgettable adventure!

Horrible Headaches

Well, I'm pretty much over my minor concussion. I'm still not up to going for 3 mile runs, but I hope to be able to do that by the end of this week.

Unfortunately, I don't have an awesome story to go with the concussion. It's not like my sister's story of her rock climbing accident that ended in the emergency room and two staples in her head holding it together. I had just finished mowing half of my backyard and was pulling the lawn mower up hill. I was walking up hill facing forward with both hand behind me pulling the lawn mower. I slipped, and since my hands were behind me on the mower, I had nothing to brace myself with. I smacked my head on the ground really really hard. I didn't pass out, but it was so painful, and my head immediately started aching with a horrible headache. I had an instant knot on the top left side of my forehead along with a scrape, a bloody cut under my eye, and a swollen jaw. I felt unusually tired, so I just went back inside and worked on homework. A few hours after the headache subsided, a horrible throbbing set in. I went to sleep, thinking I would feel better in the morning. The next day I was still extremely tired (which for anyone who knows me well knows I am rarely, if ever, out of energy). I was also extremely emotional, bursting into tears for no reason and crying for half an hour or so at a time. At school, I felt very disoriented, and it was hard for me to have a normal conversation because I felt like I was in a fog. When I got home, I went to bed to sleep since I was to tired to do anything else. My mom, noticing how I was acting different, called a friend of our who is a doctor and explained everything that had happened and how I was acting weird. He said I definitely had a concussion, and I should go to the ER. I hate emergency rooms, so I waited another day and just went to my regular doctor. It ended up that I did have a minor concussion. I had to have a CT scan to make sure there was no bleeding on my brain. Thank God everything came back ok. I was told to get lots of rest, which I did! I would take a 2 hour nap during the day and then sleep for over 9 hours at night. That is totally abnormal for me since I'm normally a bundle of energy with just 6 to 7 hours of sleep.

A few days after the accident, my dad informed me that he bought accident insurance for me since I'm so accident-pron... This wasn't the first time I've racked up thousands as dollars worth of medical bills. Maybe I should just live in a bubble, but even then I'm sure I would find someway to hurt myself.

The Exploration

Sometimes it's nice to explore things that you probably shouldn't, like the abandoned house, the cave in the rocks, or even the bend around the corner. Never forfeit the chance to see something new.

Lead Me

I heard this song on the radio a few weeks ago and have loved it ever since. It was written to challege men to be the spiritual leader of their home. Mark Hamitt, who wrote "Lead Me", said this about the song, "This song is the cry of a wife to be led by her husband, the cry of children to be led by their Father, and ends with the prayer of a husband and father to be led by God in the great responsibility of building a home on the solid foundation of Christ."

Favorite Coffee Cafes

Growing up, neither of my parents drank coffee. (When I was about 9, we got a coffee maker, but one day my mom left the coffee grounds in the pot for a few weeks. Sadly, it got all moldy and nasty so she threw it in the rubbish.) However, my granny would drink about eight cups of coffee a day. When we'd go to Granny's house, she would make us kids little cups of coffee that consisted mostly of cream with about a tablespoon of coffee. I was never crazy about that stuff until the summer I went to camp when I was 17. Over that summer, I got addicted to coffee! Now I have an amazing coffee maker (thanks to my neighbor) and bags of freshly ground coffee (compliments of my sister and brother-in-law's roasting company.) Unlike most people, I drink my coffee black- no cream, no sugar. Cream and sugar just ruin the real flavor of the coffee.
Here is a list of some great places where I've gotten coffee, mochas, & cappuccino:

Harmony House (Dayton, TN) Small town coffee house with a comfy atmosphere. Has amazing iced coffees and chocolate covered coffee beans. The owner is really friendly. Every time I've been in there, he's always working. He seems to know everyone in town.
http://www.harmonyhousecoffee.com/

Croissants de France (Key West, FL)This small cafe is located on Duval Street in Key West and has reasonably priced coffee and mouth watering pastries. I got a cup of coffee and a raspberry pastry. Absolutely delicious! The pastry chef is French and one of the workers was Mexican, so we enjoyed speaking French and Spanish with them!
http://www.croissantsdefrance.com/

Ocracoke Coffee Co. (Ocracoke Island, NC) The coffee is strong and is some of the best I've ever had! They also sell healthy smoothies, teas, espresso and pastries here. This is a great place to meet the locals.
http://www.ocracokeisland.com/ocracoke_coffee.htm



The Bar (Riomaggiore, Italy) Little cafe in Italy with outside setting. Best cappuccino in the world - they're very bitter! They also sell fresh pastries which are great for breakfast or a snack. In the evenings when football (soccer) games where on, a tv was set up where the outdoor seating was. The locals and tourists alike would gather around, blocking the street, intently watching the games.

Oh, the Artsy People

My older sister has an amazing artistic ability. She's into photography, painting, and making collages. I love the collages she makes- they are beautiful! Her big collage (which is the main piece of art in her living room) is my favorite. It consists of a black and white picture she took while in Paris. Around the picture is an array of colorful pictures she cut out of magazines. Framing that is a thin black poster fame. Here is a picture of it:

Nature's Symphony

Recently, my family took a camping trip to the Appalachian Mountains. Our first evening, we took a hike to watch the sun slip behind the mountains. There was a symphony composed of nature's sounds- the chorus of the trees rustling in the wind, the occasional hum of a cricket, and the music of the wind in your ears.

It's evenings like that that make me wish summer would never give in to fall.