Friday Five: Hot Times, Summer in the City...

[Posted by ReverendMother over at RevGalBlogPals]

...or town, or suburb, or hamlet, or burg, or unincorporated zone, or rural area of your choice---pretty much anywhere but the southern hemisphere, it's summer. (Australians and others, consider this an invitation to take a break from winter for a while.)

1. Favorite summer food(s) and beverage(s)

I have just pulled the silky threads from 6 ears of sweet summer corn, locally grown. That has to be one. Strawberries and blueberries as they come into season here-- there are a couple more. Ice cream. Fresh flounder caught by my brother and fried up in a big mess. Fresh-picked tomatoes that really taste like tomatoes. Cold, soft, slightly oaky Chardonnay. Also, burgers, steaks and salmon on the grill. Fresh veggies on the grill (Reverend Dona Quixote! Go to her blog immediately for a recipe). And fresh pineapple on the grill. And pesto made with all that wonderful fresh basil.

2. Song that "says" summer to you. (Need not be about summer explicitly.)

Heidi Talbot's Summer's Gone... Petra and I listened to that album over and over as we drove to rehearsals for Ruddigore three summers ago... The whole thing says Summer to me, but that song especially.

...Still those tales are all I've had
Since your sails rose high that morn
Your last words drift on every wave
"I'll be back before summer's gone
I'll be back before summer's gone."

The thing about the song is, it's a lament, but a rather cheerful one. It's a sailor's hornpipe, and the singer knows better than to have expected anything else. It's mournful and knowing and winking at the same time...

3. A childhood summer memory

In the ocean, every day, from 10 AM until 5 PM, diving, tumbling, riding the waves, getting sunburned, taking a break to have a peanut butter sandwich, counting to 600 (10 minutes) aloud so that we could get back into the water as soon as possible, building sandcastles, just being, in that water, those waves. Such joy!

4. An adult summer memory

Same summer as in the music answer, sitting in the backyard of our director after rehearsal, drinking water to rehydrate on a hot sticky night, then gathering around a bonfire as the breezes rose.

5. Describe a wonderful summer day you'd like to have in the near future. (weather, location, activities)

I'd like to go to an outdoor concert in a wonderful location where I can picnic. Day warm, with a breeze coming up in the evening (pretty standard around here except for about two weeks in July). I would take with me fabulous chicken salad with walnuts and grapes, and Indonesian rice salad (from the original Moosewood cookbook!), a blackberry-cinnamon coffeecake, a bottle of chardonnay, and a big, soft blanket to sit on. Then I would lie back and listen to the music under the stars.

Optional: Does your place of worship do anything differently in the summer? (Fewer services, casual dress, etc.)

I'm not serving a church at present, but most every church I know (in my denomination) does make summer-time adjustments-- earlier services, different communion ritual, an outdoor service or two, joint services with other churches. A couple of summers ago I departed from the lectionary to do a sermon series called "Beach Reading" in which I brought some best-sellers into conversation with scripture texts of my choosing. I fully intend to do that again, I had so much fun with it!