Sunday, July 31, 2011

Summer days outdoors

One of the things I love about summer is that so much of my time is spent outdoors. I’m not a huge fan of the heat, and those sweltering humid days I could definitely live without, but I do love how much of our days are spent outside the confines of four walls.

Today we spent most of the morning at a park celebrating the second birthday of one of Miya’s little friends. There was a great splash pad that the kids ran around in, lots of trees and open space. The party invite had suggested that in lieu of a bought present, guests offer the birthday girl a little rock. Miya is great fan of collecting rocks and spent quite some time mulling over the perfect one to give her little friend.

In early evening we headed to a friend’s house for a lovely backyard bbq. Well, even though the food was cooked on the bbq it was much more than the type of bbq we usually host. Our bbqs tend to be sort of haphazard get-togethers at which various things get thrown on the grill, naked children pee in paddling pools and foods are consumed at random times, often with fingers.

At this dinner party, we actually sat along a long table under a little tent, ate delicious salad, roasted eggplant, salmon and beef off real plates with real cutlery. It was absolutely lovely and reminded me of outdoor meals in Europe and of how delightful it is to eat in the open air.

Even our cats have become outdoor pets and are loving the change. Ever since the latest peeing disasters, both cats now spend as much time as they like outdoors. Our house smells better for it, and the cats are happy and contentedly tired.

It’s a nice kind of tired you get at the end of a day outside – much different from that sort of headachy, stiff tired that comes from a day spent hunched over a computer. After a day spent outdoors I feel a perfect mix of relaxed, rested and sleepy.

I am outdoors year round, but the effortlessness and ease of it during the summer is wonderful.

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