The memories bring a quiet painfull comfort now but will eventually be a joy to experience. They are the gist of life that lingers so we never forget and the experiences that are shared will always be a part of us. Thank you for inviting us into your life and memories.

Summer (since that's the season we're in and most people seem to be mentioning): 1. Picking berries (mostly blueberries), eating some in the field, some baked (Grandma's strawberry shortcake, blueberry buckle, Dad's blueberry pancakes) and freezing the rest. 2. Fireflies - still see some occasionally but very late and fewer than I remember - my DD has never caughyt one in her life, DS probably doesn't remember doing it. Are they getting scarce all over or just up north here? 3. Running in the sprinkler and Slip N Slide (my kids love this - DD and my cousins' kids literally spent all day yesterday sliding - and then after dinner the kids started passing water balloons, the adults started throwing them and it turned into a free-for-all). 4. Sunday dinners at my grandparents' house, often picnics at the farm (my great-uncle inherited, my cousin lives there now) and staying late into the night, out on the lawn, most of us barefoot (incl my uncle!) and listening to my uncles singing amazing harmonies (though my grandma couldn't sing and my dad still can't). Enjoyed joining my uncles, 1 aunt, a couple cousins singing around the bonfire last night - DD stayed up til 9pm running around with the other kids and glowsticks (at my uncle's place just down the hill from the farmhouse - he bought the neighbor's house and some of the south field and orchard from my great-uncle, I got the northern woods). 5. Haying (first rolling the bales together in groups for the men to pick up when we were too little to do anything else, then when older driving the truck, then when stronger helping the men pick up the bales and put them in the barn). Not sure that was a "pleasure" but it was part of summer. 6. Playing in the woods behind our house with my brother when I was 7-8, and then a different house with neighbor girls when I was 10-12, before we moved to a *more* rural spot, where my parents still live). They're building a house now in the swamp next to our first house - I can't believe it passed wetlands! 7. Riding my bike to the library where I worked as volunteer librarian in the summer. 8. Riding my horse out in the fields (though mucking out the stalls and rounding up the cows and ponies after the ponies busted out of the fence wasn't fun). The smell of a horse on a hot day - it's been a long time but I still remember it...stopping for a drink at the brook and cool off in the shade of the trees... 9. Camping near the seashore, digging for clams and having steamed clams and homemade chowder for dinner, sleeping in a tent after staying up late sitting around the fire (but I don't miss the sandfleas). 10. The fireman's parade, carnival rides, and fireworks - going this week with the kids. I guess they still have many of the same experiences I had, in the same places, though they don't have quite as many siblings and cousins, they do have some cousins who come visit, and we still occasionally get together (like yesterday) with 2nd cousins. Why don't we run this thread every season/holiday?

Oh, I just noticed- it should have read "a jar OF honey" not "on". Doh. What a great idea, glenda. Thanks for the suggestion! Yes, I know socks, it's so lovely. They must have found an old jar and used it as I've never seen new ones like that. Which makes me think that would be a clever and wonderful idea - using vintage and unusual jars for honey and jams, too. I suppose getting the correct lids for a good seal would be necessary though.

Quartz countertops. Bookshelves for cookbooks. As wide an induction oven as my layout will allow me! The other thing is... the contractor has in our contract that I'll be getting a stainless steel double sink. I'm going to be changing this -- it would look terrible with a log exterior, medium wood finished cabinets, black major appliances, aged bronze fixtures and pulls, sage green interior walls, white (eco luna white) or green (silestone olive green) quartz countertops. It would be cheaper to just grin and bear it, but I'll hate it.