Sum-sum-summertime: a photojournalism tour

Life is busy and summer is no respite. Every year this takes me by surprise, because there's a part of my brain that still thinks I'm going to lie around and chew on stalks of grass, look for shapes in the clouds, and listen to the low hum of a twin engine plane flying lazily overhead. That is the go-to memory reel of my childhood.

That will be followed, of course, by several games of "Red Light, Green Light," and "Red Rover" with all the neighbor kids out on the lawn, after which we might have a cool class of grape Kool-Aid. And finally, my siblings and I will be called in for dinner where we will enjoy my mother's award-winning fried chicken and potato salad.

Okay, she never actually won awards for her chicken and potato salad. But there's a good reason for that. She never entered them in any contests. I'm confident she would have won if she had. I can still taste them to this day, and she has been gone for 20 years.

Image credit: Photo by Larisa-K, Pixabay

Things are a bit different for me today. I've got kids of my own. They are practically grown up, so even they are past yard games and looking for shapes in the clouds.

But there are other wonderful, enjoyable things and quirky summery things, that make this a spectacular time of year. Especially in Minnesota.

Summertime in all its glory

Here's my photojournalism survey of summer. When you see all the stuff I've been up to, you will understand why I haven't been writing! These pictures don't even include the travel. I've been on the road and in the air and going places so much this summer that I'll have to reserve that for later posts.

I started this post with an image that is not my own, as I wanted one that encapsulates summer in all its buttery loveliness. But all the rest are mine.

The garden, bugs and beasts

Somehow Minnesota gardens know they have to grow fast. We cannot safely plant until May due to danger of frost. (We had a major snowstorm in April this year.) And then everything explodes into blossoms and growth. I swear you can watch everything grow.

Here's my garden during planting time in May and then in its full abundance in July.

My garden in May

My garden in July

That's my kitty, Angel, who loves to garden with me.

In case it's not apparent, I grow quite a few vegetables in the garden. The plot on the far right has some big beef steak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and Romas. And the garden on the far left has cucumbers. I also have beans, an herb garden and melons growing in there!

I serve the tomatoes and cucumbers many ways. Sometimes I just slice them and put them on a plate with a drizzle of olive oil and some salt. Sometimes I'll chop chives over the top, or add some fresh mozzarella. And of course I make fresh salsa.

I also bring tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs for lunch, and hand them out to my co-workers and neighbors. Pictured here is a recent lunch, with my fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, plus avocados and hummus.

You may have noticed the hanging yellow bags in my garden. That's because we have some bodacious insects here in Minnesota! This year I had an infestation of Japanese beetles, and I had to get traps or they would have devoured my bean plant.

The traps are kind of interesting. They come with a pheromone capsule that attracts the beetles. They fall into the bags and even though the bags are wide open at the top, the bugs can't get out because they can't fly straight up. Here's another picture of these little devices. They're quite clever and very effective.

We have water, water everywhere here in Minnesota (more than the 10,000 lakes we are known for), and as a result we have a lot of frogs and toads. Here are a few little specimens from around my house.

This little guy was practically the same color as my deck chair, and I almost didn't see him as I was wiping down the chairs right before I was about to have people over. (Of all the pictures in this photojournalism blog post, I think I'm proudest of this one.)

This one is kind of hilarious. On summer nights, if it's buggy out, sometimes a frog will position itself outside the kitchen window. The kitchen lights attract the bugs, and the frog can come and feast on them. Frogs must be more intelligent than we'd think. (Oh, and by the way, it's a second story window. I'm really not sure how he gets up there.)

We also have deer, coyotes, foxes, ducks, geese, turkeys, turtles, squirrel, and tons of bunnies. But that's enough about the beasts!

Summer activities

There is so much to do here in Minnesota in the summer that I don't know where to begin. Fortunately for you, the photos on my phone are a limiting factor. I'm sure it's probably like that most places, but I have to say, I have honestly never loved summer anywhere quite as much as I love it here. Maybe it's because it is so spectacular by comparison with the winter. Or maybe it's just that amazing. The weather is very often awesome. And we just love to be outside!

The summer starts out with ball season. My twins both play ball, so we are at one field or another all through May, June, and July. Here's my son pitching on the high school field.

Then there's the walking trails. We have an enormous off-leash dog park near our house, and miles and miles of walking paths on a regional trail system.

Here's my pooch, Zoey, fetching her ball at the dog park.

I grabbed this picture on a walking trail near my office.

Here's my husband and daughter on a recent walk on the regional trail.

Just a bit further down that same trail, we come to a lovely marina on Lake Minnetonka. This is our favorite turn-around point on the regional trail. In winter, instead of boats in the marina, you'll see ice fishing houses dotting this little bay.

There are even excellent walks right downtown. Here's a view of the city, from Father Hennepin park on the far side of the Stone Arch bridge. My daughter and I had a lovely breakfast at one of the cute and funky cafes near the University a few days ago, and then enjoyed a walk across the bridge, with views of the the city skyline, the Mississippi River and St. Anthony falls.

Of course, if you have water everywhere, you must get out on it! We don't own a boat, but we do love to kayak. This is a recent expedition with three of my gal pals.

That picture is taken not far from the beach where we set out blankets every Fourth of July for the fireworks. This picture isn't great quality, but I'm including it because Fourth of July is one the highlights of summer! As you can see, we sit right near the water's edge.

Another favorite summer activity is farmer's markets. They run all summer, all over the area. I can get to at least three of them within about five or ten minutes from my house. The one pictured is actually in downtown Minneapolis, right next to the beautiful new US Bank stadium. We spent an evening there a few nights ago with friends, eating yummy food from a food truck and listening to live music.

This tour would not be complete without mention of the most thrilling summer activity of all, here in Minnesota: patio dining. All over the Twin Cities there are oodles of restaurants with patios that open up as soon as you can comfortably sit out. And in fact, many of them have heat lamps because it isn't always quite warm enough even when the good weather does come.

This picture is from a recent evening on a patio with friends who were visiting from Seattle. We had so much fun talking and laughing and enjoying a meal and a beer, surrounded by the sounds of the evening. I think food tastes better outdoors, don't you?

Oh, there's so much more! The beaches, the festivals, the Minnesota State Fair, the camping, the biking... it goes on and on.

But I am just going to share one more thing to wrap this up: A tree. My husband and I were out walking tonight, the 2nd of August, and we saw the first colors of Autumn. And that just says it all.

Summer is far too fleeting. We grab every morsel of it we can while it's here, because, before you know it, the colors will be changing and the kids will go back to school, and there will be the first real chill in the air.

And we'll be thinking of pumpkins.

Thanks for reading!

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