A little bit of summer fun

Whew, it is hard to believe that it is the middle of August and summer is almost over. As usual, I feel like I missed it.

The past two years I've had a book to promote during the middle of summer and that seemed to take up all my time. Last year, I also had a wedding to plan. This year I thought I might get a little bit more enjoyment out of summer, but between constantly sick cats, severe weather that has led to two basement floods, and the race to finish my work-in-progress before my agent goes on maternity leave.... Not so much. To make matters worse, the work-in-progress does not feel like it's progressing at all and I'm not going to have the satisfaction of a finished book by Labor Day, possibly not even by the end of September. This is just not my year.

But I did have a few pleasant summer moments to look back fondly on.

First: visits with friends. I did not do nearly enough of this. I never seem to have enough free time to see everyone that I want to see. But I went on two very lovely picnics, one with my best friend on the fourth of July and one with my thirteen year-old pseudo-niece. There is just something simple and perfect about eating outdoors. And I had the chance to visit with some out of town friends. One came in from Los Angeles and we had a barbecue. And then I spent my birthday in St. Louis with some friends of ours and we went to the City Museum there which is basically like a big indoor/outdoor playground for grown-ups (well, and kids too, I guess). So I did get to go on a roof-top ferris wheel with my husband:

And tunnel through the giant indoor cave system with my friend Jenny:

Two, I was able to pay slightly more attention to my garden this year. I haven't been able to weed it as much as I would like and it kind of looks like a mess because things are either overgrown due to the extreme rain or drying out due to the extreme heat, but I'm starting to get some actual vegetables from it. Here you see a handful of green beans, some pickling cucumbers, two types of hot peppers, and a lot of tomatos:

My town also got a farmer's market this year so I've been able to buy a lot of fresh local produce as well. And speaking of fabulous things in my town, this brings us to the biggie....

Last but not least, I finally FINALLY went to my town's pool this year. So what, you are probably thinking, but you see I have wanted to go to this pool since I was a little kid when we lived in the neighboring town. My parents never took me because we lived two blocks from a pool, so why drive to one. This is the pool of my childhood fantasies:

Yep, those are two big waterslides you see in the center there. And not pictures are the drop slides, which are part slide, part free fall into the diving pool.

The weekend after the second flood, I made the spontaneous decision to finally visit the pool because really, what can cheer you up better than waterslides. I also decided to lay by the pool and read a little bit, as that was a favorite childhood past-time of mine. I'm much less tolerant of the sun than I was back then, but aside from that, it was highly enjoyable.

The pool will be at the top of my list for next summer as well along with ACTUAL VACATION. I'm hoping to have the time and money for a road trip to South Dakota or possibly all the way to Montana with my husband. We shall see. But I guess I better get back to writing that book to earn that vacation money.

How has your summer been? Busy or relaxing? And what were your favorite adventures?