Are mine the only summers that seem way too short? The back to school ads are on TV–a sure sign that summer’s endless days are dwindling away to a precious few. And–even worse–the “new” summer TV series are already warning that there are only two or three shows left until the season finale! (By the way, I want to thank whoever it was who suggested that I watch “Haven” on the SyFy Channel. I’m really enjoying it. I’m also loving “The Glades” on A and E. But they’re all ending soon!)

Maybe the length of the season is somehow attached to the fact that I’m an adult? When I was a child, the time from the last day of school in June until the Tuesday after Labor Day seemed to stretch forever. And there was nothing to do but choose what T-shirt I wanted to wear with my shorts, what games I wanted to play with the kids down the street and which book I wanted to read that week.

Or maybe it’s just me who feels that my summers don’t have enough time for just…relaxing anymore. The lady who lives behind me has time to sit out on her deck and do nothing but get a tan. If I go out on my deck, I feel that I would have to clean my grill first. And perhaps sweep the floor. And then there would be the windows… Those tasks would definitely eat into my tanning time. And if I don’t go out there, those chores can remain on my to-do list. Until next summer.

Or maybe–and this is just occurring to me–maybe my summers seem shorter because I’m actually doing more things. This summer I’m traveling to Florida three times, I’ve been to Rhode Island once, Vermont once, and Michigan once. Could it be that my childhood summers only seem longer because I was pretty much confined to one place?

Maybe my ptoblem isn’t that summers are shorter but that I have to find more time to fit in “summer things” while I’m at home. Any suggestions?

The one thing that I still seem to fit into my summers is time to read. (Although I listen to a lot more books than I actually read any more). The ones I’ve especially enjoyed reading this summer are: Amanda Quick’s “The Burning Lamp,” Tami Hoag’s “Deeper Than the Dead,” J.D. Robb’s “Fantasy In Death,” Elizabeth Lowell’s “Death Echo.” These are all writers I’ve been reading since they started out in short category romance. I would recommend all of them. Currently, I’m reading Linda Howard’s and Linda Jones’ “Blood Born.” Ordinarily, I’m not a vampire fan, but I’m hooked on this one. It’s currently in my CD player in my car and I’m already thinking of errands I can run today so that I can listen to it. And Nora Roberts’ “The Search” is next. One of the nurses at my doctor’s office said she didn’t sleep for two nights because she couldn’t put it down.

In the waning weeks of summer, do you have any suggestions about books that I could add to my “to listen to” list? What’s the best book you’ve red this summer?

Or do you have any suggestions on how I might stretch out summertime in my own home? (I’m at the point where I’m actually thinking I have to clean out my closet and line up my fall teaching clothes. Ugh! Help me!)

I’m not offering any free books for suggestions this time, but if I’ve promised you a book earlier and somehow missed your email, please send me another reminder.

I hope you all enjoy the last days of summer!
Cara

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 14th, 2010 at 6:15 am and is filed under Cara Summers, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.