Summerbrain

Do you ever look back on a weekend and think, Dang, that was a good time.

Do you ever think, Dang, I wish I'd taken more pictures.

And Dang, why did I have my camera in nighttime mode, making everything grainy?

But then, sit back, roll your eyes and sigh. It's summer. Good times happen, and not everything can be recorded. Sometimes, taking a break from photo-snapping is needed. With that in mind, I present to you the following three photos, the only blog-worthy ones I took this weekend.

There's far more to the story than the photos portray, but maybe I can help fill in the details. Friends were here. There were friends to can with and friends to ride carousels with, gardening friends and baseball-watching friends and ice cream eating friends.

On Friday, three wonderful women and a beautiful little girl gathered in my kitchen to stir oozy vats of strawberry jam. Laughter was heard. Salsa was eaten. Aprons were donned and admired. It was so much fun, I decided it should be a regular event in my kitchen. I can hardly wait for the next session.

Saturday, there was farmers-marketing, barbecue-attending, sunny strolling and ballpark-bratwurst-eating. It was probably the most quinessentially American 4th of July I've ever had, and it was great. Isn't there something exciting about experiencing those ordinary and very much cliched holiday things? Baseball and fireworks on the 4th of July is about as iconic as you can get, and it was great. The home team even managed to pull off a win.

To round things out, there was Sunday gardening and hiking and quiet reflecting on the porch.

Perfect.