Design Your Summer – Summer Foods Take Two

Summer Theme – Seize Every Day

This is the summer between Jack’s ninth and tenth grade year. Then we will have between tenth and eleventh, between eleventh and twelfth . . . and then . . . our first fledgling hops out o’ the nest, followed closely by his next youngest brother. We their parents are trying to maintain the correct balance of SEIZE THE DAY without slipping into Anticipatory Abject Misery. We are keenly aware that this little family of five under one roof is not to be for much longer, and that is correct and good and The Ultimate Goal of Raising Up Children, but while we have them all we are trying to carpe every single diem. We try to do domestic vacations with them every summer, take weekend trips when we can. Now that the boys can pack their own suitcase, carry their own luggage and make their own bowl of breakfast cereal it’s even easier and more fun, and this year is the year that we take a huge European adventure together. Time makes you bolder, children get older, I’m getting older too. . . .

How lucky are we, that this is within our means?? That these teens of ours are no trouble at all, such fun to talk to, and their youngest brother too?!?

Both our sets of parents were wed in 1973 – the Prof’s in July and mine in September. So it’s the big five-oh this year for both of them, and we are planning special trips to celebrate each. The Prof’s parents’ trip comes first – Ireland and Scotland, with their two children and five grandchildren, and that is a big part of my 2023 summer design. My parents’ trip will likely be delayed into 2024 (still in their fiftieth year of marriage!), because there have been two new grandchildren born this year and one more to come in September, and family schedules adjust to babies (and not the other way around).

So. As I design this 2023 summer, I have several goals: (1) to enjoy the time and make sure it doesn’t slip away; (2) to prep these boys for life without us, so that they are not helpless; (3) to enjoy our European trip; and (4) to feel like each day is a little bit different and interesting – hard to do when one works from home, but not impossible. Broadly, here is the week-by-week plan:

• Week 1: Memorial Day in Nashville
• Week 2: Big boys Memphis, others home
• Week 3: Home with big boys – local adventures
• Week 4: Home with big boys – local adventures
• Week 5: Home with big boys – local adventures – or maybe Omaha?
• Week 6: Fourth of July week – to Nashville, then Belfast
• Week 7: Scotland
• Week 8: Amsterdam, then home
• Week 9: Home
• Week 10: Clemson

As for day-by-day plans, I’ve set a schedule to give the boys lots of time at the gym, limited but ample screen time, work on projects and volunteer work and chores and lots of non-screen downtime. I’ve also set some time for adventures and exploring the city and nearby, including some swamp tours and hikes and tours and the like. I will endeavor to record here as we do our exploring.

Here is a list of summer foods I want to be sure to enjoy:

• Stone fruit (nectarines, peaches, plums)
• Melons
• Berries – strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry
• Thin sliced yellow squash and zucchini
• Cucumbers, in large rounds sliced in half, on a bowl of ice to keep them cold
• Salad with roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers, olives, mozzarella balls
• Corn on the cob, salted tomato and basil salad, and fried chicken
• Homemade lemonade
• Barbecue chicken legs, pasta salad, and snap beans
• Barbecue chicken salad
• Pasta carbonara with sweet peas
• Fried eggplant
• BBQ brisket sliders
• Cherry pie
• Cobbler
• Strawberry shortcake