summer

i don't hide the fact that summer is my least favorite season.

actually, using the words 'summer' and 'favorite' in the same sentence causes me to twitch a little, that is how little those two words have in common in my mind. it bugs me like putting the colors red and pink together. biting into styrofoam. Tim Horton's coffee.

you get the picture.

but this summer, i am determined not to merely exist during these horribly hot and humid days, which has been my modus operandi for most of the summers of my life. {with the beautiful exception of last summer, which will remain gloriously wrapped in white, sparkly tissue paper in my mind, with angels singing every time i unwrap it to remember. but i digress...}

as i was saying, this summer i am making a 'bucket list' of sorts, a list of things that by labor day, i want to have done or accomplished. these are all things that i didn't already have planned, so the 18 books that i will read don't count here.

here is my list:

• make a whole pie from scratch. i've made lots of pies in my day, but pastry crust intimidates me. by the end of summer, i hope to have defeated this fear.
• spend the day in Niagara Falls. i've wanted to do this for a while, but by the time the weekend usually rolls around, the practical {boring} stuff usually takes over and i don't do it. my family spent so much of our free time in Niagara Falls, that just being there reminds me of a myriad of memories.
  
• sew something. for years my poor sewing machine has sat on the bottom of the bookshelf, forlornly looking at me, wondering why i no longer love it. but this summer, i want to pull it out and create something, just like the old days.
• dinner parties. i love entertaining. i love throwing dinner parties, but for some reason, i don't do it any more. i want to have two, one in july and one in august.
• write letters. letter writing, i fear, is a lost art. but one that i hope to revive, at least in my life. there really is nothing greater than receiving a letter in the mail. and if it's on pretty stationery, well, that's even better. i plan to write at least one a week. one is already done for this week, and it will go in the mail today.
• visit Casa Loma. the last time i visited this gothic Toronto landmark was with my family, well before my 20th birthday. since it is the closest one can get to a european experience in the GTA, it's time i visited again.
  

originally i was aiming for ten things, but i think that these five six are solid, and at the end of the summer, even though it will have been hot and humid and gross, i will look back and see the good things instead of the gross ones.

what are your plans for summer?