They say summer's almost gone

but I say Stop saying that, it makes me feel suicidal.

Seriously, this was one of the weakest showings of summer to date. Or, "two days of 100 degree weather does not a summer make".

But I refuse to give up on the season yet. There are still some things that can extend summers joys a little longer:

Go to the river with a cooler full of treats & lay out (even if you DO have to keep yr dress on), reading Sherlock Holmes paperbacks (or whatever yr summer fancy is).

Or go to Sauvie & hunt among berry brambles for the final marionberries or just get flats for $10 & 5 sweet corn for $1. Then invite a bunch of ppl over to celebrate the bounty.

Or do cocktails at dusk around yr fire pit, with lots of lanterns & fairy lights glowing around the yard. 

Or pick a bunch of sweetpeas. They're endless & vibrant & frilly & tendriling their way up everything in sight.

Or have a shot of wheatgrass. It tastes like a freshly mown lawn & reminds me of vacations in Palm Springs. 

Or do the poetry equivalent of canning summer fruits to prepare for the coming seasons (aka fall & winter & spring when you will be stuck inside forever because of the rain & the rain & the rain & the rain) by:

• signing up for the Cupboard summer subscription sale. $12 gets you the whole year's worth of publications 
• or taking advantage of H_NGM_N's bogo sale, where under $15 will get two books delivered to yr door (one of them should probably be Ben Kopel's Victory...just saying)
• or if there are any Black Ocean titles you don't already have, grabbing them now for $8 each at their super depressingly named Summer's Almost Gone sale 

Or go camping. I'm heading off right now to drink whiskey out of those awesome speckled tin cups until I'm soused enough to sleep on the ground. It's not quite the lazing on the beach I dream of when I think of summer, but there will be a river & a sandy shore & at least it's still dry. Right? 

I'll try to keep thinking of summery things when I return, since it's actually cheering me up!