"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."

Beloved Summer, you whose presence is so fleeting, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

Now that we're in Deep Summer, or basically only a few days short of a month until fall officially beings on Sept. 23rd, there is an urgency in the air as if every living thing was trying to make the most of what remains of the long, warm days.

For us, it's been a good summer, thankfully. There's been many caprese salads to prepare with fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market, fresh basil from my glorious plant in my small huerto and Ohio-made mozzarella cheese.

There's also been lots of sweet corn -- I prepared a corn soup a few weeks' back that was one of the best recipes I've prepared yet, and weekly trips to the farmer's market where the produce has been plentiful and delicious.

 

There's also been several trips to our favorite nearby orchard for fresh peaches, which have made for several each-one-better-than-the-next peach galettes, and one visit to the pool at my parents-in-law's compound, where my husband spent some quality time on a inflatable chair.

We also visited the tombs of Rusty and Geni, our beloved and gone Puerto Rican satos, who loved "the hill" as the place where my husband grew up is affectionately known.

There was also a quick visit to Puerto Rico to accompany my mami to some medical tests, which also thankfully, came out negative.

While there, we looked through old recipes and cooking books and came across a "menu list" my mom typed up, we don't know when, of the dinners she would cook over a month's time.

We also found a small hand-written booklet my abuela prepared for my mom, when she had just married my father, for easy recipes that he liked. The booklet, in my abuela's painstakingly clear script, is adorable and very valuable as a memento of her personality and style. All the recipes, for some reason, are egg dishes.

 

Today, the first years arrived on campus for their week-long Orientation and classes begin next Thursday. I am, thanks to a teaching fellowship award, not teaching this year, so I am thankfully spared the last-minute jitters and stress that each semester brings. I am, however, advising three first years this year, as part of my work with a summer retention program, so I will be meeting with them and their parents tomorrow.

Also today I returned to the quilting shop where I took classes last year, and paid in full for the American Beauty quilt set that I put a deposit on almost a year ago. I hope to start another beginning class in September and get started on the first me-made quilt for our bed, to be completed (hopefully) before I go back to the classroom next year.

Summer goes so quickly. I know I will miss it terribly once the days begin to get colder. But, for now, I'm not thinking about that. Instead, I plan to make the absolute most of every one of the next 34 days.