Monday, August 13, 2018

The Peak of Summer

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: If August is the top of the ferris wheel of summer, this week is the very tip, the moment before the wheel begins to fall back to earth. It's the arc of a baseball just before it descends into the waiting glove, the three-scoops cone about to start dripping onto your hand - but not yet, not yet.

For those of us in the civilized regions of the country, it's still two weeks before the school buses call us all to duty - three before Labor Day puts the final coda on the summer of '18. Its the perfect time to assess what you've done and, more importantly, what you want to do before the first cool breezes of September start to blow.

For me, I've done more traveling than I planned this summer, some celebratory (being there for the Jungle Reds appearance at Brookline Booksmith) some fun (time with extended family in the mountains of Vermont) and some sad (My mother's death and funeral.) I've cooked less than in previous years, giving away a lot of my wonderful CSA produce. I've read more, however, and had many lovely lunches and dinners with friends.

What's left on my summer bucket list? More open-faced tomato sandwiches. Fresh-picked corn from the local farmstand. The last concert of the Portland Chamber Music Festival, this coming Saturday. I went to this past Saturday's performance and it was amazing! So I'm very much looking forward to the evening.

We usually see several Shakespearean plays each summer, but with the sad demise of Maine Shakespeare, its been more difficult this year. Instead, Youngest and the Smithie and I are going to see a family favorite, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, at the Lakewood Theater on the shores of Wessenrunsett Lake in north-central Maine. 

The big event for me isn't very summery - it will be moving Youngest into her dorm at the University of Maine (Orono) at the end of the month. So I guess I'm looking forward to lots of runs to Target and Bed Bath & Beyond to buy dorm stuff.

Afterwards, however, one of my bffs and I will celebrate with our annual visit to Old Orchard Beach, Maine's largest white-sand sea shore. When our kids were little, we would park our butts in our chairs and watch them run in and out of the surf. This time around, instead of packing  a picnic for seven, we'll have grown-up snacks and Mojitos - made from Lucy's recipe, of course! - in the cooler.

How about you, Reds? What are you trying to get done on these last days of summer? 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ah, ah, ah. I have to write five million blogs and articles about Trust Me. Do seventy five billion interviews about Trust Me. FINISH A WHOLE NEW BOOK. Plan a launch party, confirm a book tour, have the launch party (you're invited! August 28 at Brookline Booksmith!)  Keep up on social media. Sleep, see my husband, remember to go outside, remember to do laundry, think every single solitary minute about whether people will love TRUST ME

It got a starred review from Booklist, YAY! Which called it "A knockout." So, that's good. And Library Journal says: It's sure to be a late-summer hit! So, yay.
So no lazy-hazy says for me. Just crazy! But TRUST ME, wonderful. Now, back to writing A WHOLE NEW BOOK!


JULIA: Okay, so we're crossing you off the "Lazy haze of summer" list and putting you on the "New York Times Bestseller" list.

INGRID THOFT: Where did the summer go?  I feel so old saying that, but it’s true.  I feel like I’m just getting in the summer groove, only to have it end in a few weeks.  So what are my plans for the remaining days?  I have a lot of writing to do, particularly because September is full of travel, which always translates into less productivity.  I have some niggling errands to run: the cobblers for a pair of shoes, the tailor for the lining of a purse that has become a black hole, and Goodwill to donate various items that need a new
home.  We also have some events on the social calendar including a cookout we’re hosting on the 39th floor roof deck of our building, and a Tuscan-themed dinner our friends are cooking.  There aren’t many weeks left, but there’s a lot to look forward to!

JULIA: I have to mention that August has been very good to Ingrid so far - her novel DUPLICITY is a finalist in the fiction category of the Washington State Book Awards!

LUCY BURDETTE: I knew the summer would be hectic and it certainly has been! Book launched, family hosted, friends seen, family reunion, golf played, and of course you know about losing my precious Tonka. All that said, there is more good stuff I need to cram in. We have a dear niece coming to CT with her little kids--will want to see plenty of her. I have a number of events still planned--are you near CT? Hope to see you at one of them. Our garden is bursting so I'm *hoping* to get some pickles made etc. And I want to play more golf because I'm playing well for the first time in several years and it's so much fun when that happens. And reading--I want to read and read and read! Rhys's new book and Hank's and Jenn's, just to name a few. Oh, and write a little too???


HALLIE EPHRON: Summer has been super hectic for me, too. I've been at Yale teaching at their annual summer writing conference, in Oregon teaching at Willamette Writer, in Sacramento giving a writing workshop for their Sisters in Crime chapter, and just back from NYC presenting at the Writer's Digest NYC Conference. I love my life!  In NY I got to see my kids and 2 grandbabies who live in Brooklyn. 




THREE more weeks of summer and I plan to enjoy doing nothing. I have some writing to do, but mostly I shall eat lobster (they're so cheap this year), eat local peaches, take walks, slow down and sit out in my backyard. And I have Rhys's FOUR FUNERALS AND MAYBE A WEDDING and Lucy's DEATH ON THE MENU to read, so life is good.


JULIA: Yes! They're on my nightstand right now!


JENN MCKINLAY: The Hooligans go back to school during the first week of August (no idea why they do that in AZ - we all hate it) so summer is pretty much over for us. Wah! Now it's school, homework, activities, go, go, go. *Sob*

JULIA: That is just wrong, Jenn. So very wrong.
 
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Only three more weeks??? I would say, YAY, only three more weeks, if I didn't have so much writing to do. We are so over summer here. We always are here in Texas by August, but after our record-breaking heat in July we are just
dreaming about cooler weather. The bucket garden is pretty shriveled, although we may get some fall tomatoes. We certainly didn't get any summer ones--it was too hot. We did have a good peach season but that's finished as of this last weekend. I'm just back from my one August trip/event, so nothing on the calendar for me except writing until Bouchercon! 

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What are your plans for the last days of summer?

72 comments:

  1. Before summer turns into fall harvest the last of the garden vegetables . . . take a trip to Norfolk to visit and spend time with the grandbabies . . . I’ll [hopefully] make a small dent in the teetering to-be-read book pile . . .

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  2. First - my condolences on losing your mother, Julia. I hadn't heard. With a daughter like you, she must have been a splendid woman.

    I need to eat more perfect corn on the cob, eat more perfect local peaches, make ratatouille and baba ganoush, eat BLTs, and do a lot of reading, preferably on the beach. I did make a perfect blueberry pie yesterday, because it finally got cool enough to bake! Also - find some mother-of-the-groom shoes (in a comfortable six wide? Wish me luck...), plan final details of our western vacation, and clean my frigging office. Enjoy the rest of the season, everybody.

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    1. I saw that pie Edith--gorgeous! Mephisto sandals for mother of groom? they are a little pricey but some are quite pretty and I wear them everywhere

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    2. I was so happy the temperature finally dropped, Edith. I made a huge pot of chicken stock, so I don't have to keep relying on store-bought.

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  3. Julia, condolences on the loss of your mother.

    Congrats to Ingrid on her finalist showing for the AMAZING Duplicity book! Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah!

    Given that I'm single, childless and extremely boring I have no real plans for the rest of summer. Generally speaking, outside of concerts and the Brookline Booksmith event last week, I haven't had any real plans all summer.

    I'm going to a couple of events this coming Saturday but those just dropped into my lap, not so much a planned by me event. There's a tribute band concert on August 31st.

    Doing some reading and reviewing. That's it.

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    1. we were so delighted to meet you at our event Jay!

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    2. And it was great to see everyone there for me as well!

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    3. Thanks, Jay. I appreciate it.

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    4. So great to see you again, Jay! Loved your T-shirt. SUPERMAN! ... indeed.

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    5. Julia, you are welcome. And thanks for signing your first book for me!

      Hallie, that was the spare T-shirt. My Doro Pesch shirt was the one I drove up in but had to change because of the heat and humidity. And it was a real blast to see everyone there. Oh, and I realized that I wished I had a copy of Elizabeth Elo's book. I remember reading about the book when it was originally published and being intrigued. But it must've fallen through the cracks of my want list because I somehow managed to not get it.

      And it was pretty cool to meet Kristopher from Bolo Books too.

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  4. Ratatouille is on my list too, as well as a batch of eggplant rollatini al a my friend Victor. I have a jar of his home mande sauce and two quarts of frozen seasoned ricotta for the filling, will have to make my own pesto but not an issue. We just had a houseful around the end of July and another coming this week, my son Bill, his wife Renee, and Max the Magnificent who will soon be fourteen. Oh my. A trip to the American Falls is planned plus an inordinate amount of cooking.

    This it will be time to plan our UK trip, ten days in Chester and surround. I'll miss seeing all of you at Bouchercon but St. Petersburg in August? Seriously? I don't do hot and humid well at all.

    I've had a couple of weeks away from the gym, pool and PT, so guess it's time to get back in the groove. Yesterday we had the annual Weidman Family AAA baseball game, and the Red Wings won like they always do when I go to a game. I'm ever amazed, having spent too many years in hot humid midwest and Dalles, that I can spend an August afternoon at a ballgame and be completely comfortable. The tundra has glorious summer weather.

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    1. the eggplant rollatini sounds divine. What do you do with the ricotta?

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    2. Lucy Roberta, the eggplant is breaded and fried, long slices, the spread with pesto and well seasoned ricotta. Rolled up, covered with sauce and some Quattro formagio, then baked. Food for the goddesses

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  5. I love tomatoes! And all this talk of BLTs is making me swoon.

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    1. Am I the only person who loved ketchup but despises tomatoes?

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  6. We're still working on the Great Decluttering here. It looks like we won't have everything done before school starts, so my modified goal is to finish decluttering my sunroom/office. Where is the magic wand of instant organization when I really need it?

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    1. Cathy, my decluttering is a glacially slow process. I need to find some racks or storage holders for my growing CD collection and get that organized. I also need to pass on some books that I have that I've read and likely won't ever do so again.

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  7. I could go for a Jersey Big Boy sandwich today. A neighbor reported us to the village, so it's weeding and pruning all day every day until we pass our repeat inspection. Queen Anne's lace and goldenrod are one person's wildflowers and a neighbor's weeds. Writing a story in my head called "Yard Police." It doesn't end well.

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    1. Oh, Margaret, I feel your pain. I have a bio-diverse lawn of hardy, drought-resistant Texas natives and border plantings of native wildflowers, which hasn't gotten me reported to the Yard Police, but did elicit an "old lady" postcard (gauzy watercolor of pansies and birds) with a message about how the sender understands how easy it is to fall on hard times, and would I like to sell him my house? (Before I toddle off to the nursing home, I presume.) Raspberries to that!

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    2. Those of us who are more interested in attracting bees and butterflies need signs that say "Grow, don't Mow," which I understand is an actual movement!

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  8. First of all, I add my condolences, Julia. There is no loss quite like the loss of one's mother.

    While I do like living in a four-seasons climate, I am very much a fan of summer. I feel great about having really grabbed the gusto in this one, which has featured plenty of outdoor music, food and fellowship. I have loved having the sun up before my 5 a.m. walk is finished, and have had lots of opportunities to visit with friends and family. My biggest goals for the remaining weeks of summer are more homegrown tomatoes and more corn on the cob.

    Fortunately, autumn is a pretty sweet season in Ohio, too. So I also have that to look forward to.

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  9. Summer starts today and I have three weeks! I have a beach sticker and a bathing suit ready for some salt water swimming. I have daughters and grandkids ready for food and fun.
    And I just rented a house for Labor Day weekend for myself and my birthday twin and her parents — near my mom.
    My sister is coming from California. We’ll bury my step-father’s ashes and then enjoy time together.

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    1. Vacation - the perfect way to end the summer. Where are you renting, Denise Ann?

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  10. This summer was a lot more work than I wanted it to be, thanks to the shifting duties of my job. I had band camp and the July 4 concert, of course, but also a whole raft of deadlines for important grant proposals that pushed my vacation back to this coming week. That, plus the killer heat in July, compounded by air conditioning problems, and I may just sleep the week away. Actually, I plan to spend a couple of days in exotic Fort Worth, visiting with friends and wandering art galleries, before I head back home to spend some time fighting the chaos of my house. And writing! Well, maybe writing. But not grant proposals, that's for sure.

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  11. Has anyone else noticed the monarch butterflies migrating! And after a day visiting Lucy I am still enjoying memories of her golden cherry tomatoes. Nothing better than cherries from a summer garden.

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    1. About a week ago I started seeing monarch butterflies here in CT!

      DebRo

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    2. They don't get down here to Texas until early October, usually.

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  12. I gifted myself a work-free August, so I could focus on one of my own writing projects. I'm ending the summer with a week's retreat at a convent with a couple of writer and poet friends....Mostly, I am waiting for summer to end. Not a moment too soon for me for fall to arrive.

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  13. I head back to work next Monday so my summer Ferris wheel is just about to stop dead. But I can’t complain after a splendid month-long visit with my mum at our cottage in July. We had Art Camp for 16 days, choosing a different theme every day and each executing a piece of our own. Mum draws, I collage. It was such fun and so companionable—good memories to take with me into fall, when the temps will be more humane, I hope! The Canadian west has been scorching this summer.

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    1. That sounds like so much fun, Amanda! What a treat that you spent the month with your Mum!

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    2. Amanda, that sounds like so much fun! I want to do Art Camp. Maybe next summer, sigh.

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  14. Sorry to be chiming in late. Back from a week's book tour all around the country, in Boston with my fellow Reds, in Madison with Lycy and Hallie, and arrived home from Houston last night after a 3 hour delay.
    No more fun summer plans for me, alas. Book to be written. Garden hillside to be replanted after 250 junipers were removed for fire prevention.

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    1. Rhys, I was flying home from Austin and the airport there was shut down for a couple of hours. Crazy weather in Texas! Glad you made it home!

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    2. Rhys, what can you plant that will help prevent fires? I worry so about you folks out there.

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  15. Saturday was the tournament for my ultimate Frisbee summer league, so I won't be heading out of town once a week to play any more. I'm hoping for a little bit of down time. I'm also ending a job this week and starting a new job next week, so I have to figure out how to adjust my schedule appropriately.

    It's still over a month until my summer ends - the start of the new TV season.

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    1. Congrats on the new job, Mark! Do you play frisbee in a fall league?

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    2. The fall league here is a beach league, and it is on Sunday morning when I'm at church, so the next league I might join is winter league. But I will still be playing pick up for the rest of the year.

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  16. Lots of fun times for everyone, it seems.

    Right now I'm buried under tomatoes; I picked nearly a half bushel the other day, from six plants! They are coming on fast. The garlic is hardened, and ready for destemming for winter storage, 100 bulbs this year. Wish I could share! Potatoes will be next. I'm hoping for a decent crop this year. I had no potato beetles, thanks to a friend's advice to throw the trimmings from the garlic on the potato plants. Brilliant.

    We have had lots of fun gatherings with friends and family, but what has taken up most of my time is the daily phone call or text from our builder about the house we are having built. Every day is a crisis, it seems, requiring some action from me (naturally) to avert disaster. But the foundation is poured, yay! We might actually live in the joint someday.

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    1. Karen, I'd take some of your tomatoes! We haven't even had good tomatoes from the farmer's market this year--it got too hot, too quickly. I had a few handfuls of cherries, but not a single one of my regular size tomatoes even set fruit. Bah humbug!

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    2. Put up three pints pickled beets and two pints cleaned peeled garlic in olive oil. That’s a lifetime supply of garlic for us. Keeps forever in the fridge and oh the flavor of that oil.

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    3. Hand up for tomatoes here, as well! We've had the opposite problem as Debs - too much rain has led to waterlogged fruit.

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    4. Ann, I can use an entire head of garlic for one meal. I love the stuff.

      Debs, that's horrible about your tomatoes. A friend here in Ohio had ten plants, full of fruit, and she said the squirrels (or raccoons, which I think is more likely) got every single fruit overnight a couple weeks ago. She's Italian, and every year she cooks up gallons of sauce to preserve, so she is heartbroken about this loss.

      Julia, we've had a ton of rain here, too. I'm hoping it hasn't rotted my potatoes.

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  17. School started today in Palm Beach County, FL The rationale for moving the start earlier and earlier?
    They want as much school year as possible before the state mandated tests. More time to "teach to the test".
    Great, not.
    Libby Dodd

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    1. Libby, all I can say is US News and World Report ranks Massachusetts as the no. 1 state for public school education, and their schools start between August 26 and September 4 this year. Most of no. 2 New Jersey's schools begin on September 4.

      As a matter of fact, of the top ten state public school systems, five begin after Labor Day and two more start August 23. Hmm....

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  18. I feel a bit grinchy after reading my comment on the post. I should add that I am looking forward to the Saturday farmer's market for the rest of the summer, but even more going into fall.

    And that after our horrible heat wave in July, and being declared in official drought status, we've been having rain since last Wednesday. Everything is soft and gray and the plants look amazingly revived.

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  19. We almost drove to Ohio to pick up our granddaughter and take a road trip to Nova Scotia and Maine. Almost. Too many domestic things happening so we cancelled. Flew her down instead. We viewed and climbed on the Big Bambu exhibit at the fine arts museum. So cool. We tried to watch shooting stars last night out in the country. When the clouds would shift there was still a haze of Saharan dust so that didn’t work out too well. Thursday we’ll go to an art exhibit/light show in an underground cistern that looks Roman with its columns. Opera in the Heights open house Sat. Morning. Back home to Ohio that afternoon. Maybe an excursion to Galveston tucked in somewhere. Then back to house repair mode. And picking and eating our satsuma crop.

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  20. Here in Colorado summer is over - school is back in session, the University starts back in a few days. It's still 100 degrees and the kids have been practicing football, softball, cheerleading, and marching band. I usually take vacation in early June or late July. We have visitors the end of June/first week of July, and by then it seems like summer is winding down. I remember the good old days when we got out of school right before Memorial Day and went back after Labor Day. Summer seemed to last forever. We are in full swing of the sweet corn and peach harvests for the next couple of weeks, so that is nice.

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    1. What is it with the southern and western states starting school in mid- or early August? I thought Maine was plenty sassy when they moved the first day of school to before Labor Day.

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  21. Julia, let me add my condolences on the loss of your mother.

    Many have mourned the ending of Summer, but for me, it can't end soon enough. TOO BLOODY HOT! We're in for another week of mid-and up 90s and that means we can't even get into the garden after about 11am. This is the hottest Summer here in Portland (OR) in decades, both by swelter-reckoning and by the official records. Bah!

    I will say the roses have loved the heat, but most of the plants have suffered, as has our water bill, since it's been terribly dry this year. Fires everywhere. I want cool and moist, please

    Summer plans? Normally we'd have trips to the coast, a drive to Northern California, a trip to the Puget Sound, but this year none of that. Maybe next year. At least we're getting lots of reading done, including books by Rhys and Hank.

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    1. Thank you, Rick. And I hear you on the heat - it's dropped into the low 70's and 60's here in Maine and even though it's rainy and damp, it's still QUITE a relief!

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  22. I feel like I completely missed summer. With a deadline looming and a new release next month, I'm holed up in Book Jail, although this week I'm breaking myself out to spend some time at the county fair. Conveniently, the book I'm working on is set...at the county fair! Research! Maybe I should set the next one in the Caribbean. Hmmm...

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    1. Who can say no to a tax-deductible visit to the county fair? Go for it!

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  23. Julia, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your mom.

    For the first time in about 17 years I've been growing tomatoes on my deck. This year I have a couple of yellow cherry tomato plants. All I can say is "yum!" I've eaten everything that has ripened so far. They just about melt in your mouth. There should be more ready for picking by the weekend. I've also been enjoying my own home grown basil. There's nothing like it!

    Whenever possible, I have done my walks outside. When the weather didn't cooperate I walked at the mall. I hope it'll be possible to do a lot more outdoor walks before I need to move them inside for a few months.

    My post-retirement decluttering project hasn't gotten very far. Oh, well!

    DebRo

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    1. I think the key words there are "post-retirement," DebRo. No need to rush for you!

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  24. Julia, I'm so sorry that your mother passed. I'm also glad that you have traveled and done some things, and are still doing, this summer. You are putting the one foot in front of the other, which can be so hard but so necessary.

    Summer is not my favorite season, and this summer has been, let's just say challenging. Finding out I have the pulmonary embolism was a real buzz kill, but I'm now feeling better about it. I let it knock me down harder than I should have, and here I am again focusing on it. Dang. Positive has been present, too, with two visits from the granddaughters and seeing Christopher Robin with them. Such a wonderful movie, and we all loved it. I have also had some great reading this summer, including Lucy's Death on the Menu. I'm reading Hank's Trust Me now and had one of those reading into the wee hours with it last night/this morning. Next up is Rhys' Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding, which I know is going to be another favorite Reds' read. August is reading and reviewing and getting ready for Bouchercon and being on my first panel (Woohoo!). I'm also going to a Red Hot Chili Pipers show the end of the month. Yes, I typed that correctly, pipers, as in Scottish bag pipes. And, there is my younger granddaughter's birthday on the 27th and picking her up from school some. And, my older granddaughter does a sort of cheerleader type of thing for the Evansville (Indiana) Otters baseball team. She wears a uniform like the female baseball players did in the film A League of Their Own, which was filmed at the baseball stadium in Evansville where the Otters play. I will be going to see her do that next week. Then, the wonderful Bouchercon will be here, and I will be thrilled to be going to that.

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    1. Oooo, being on a Nouchercon panel - yay!! I attended my first Bouchercon in Toronto last year (as a reader) and loved it. The panels were so interesting and the authors so generous with the sharing of knowledge and experience. Enjoy it, Kathy!

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    2. Thanks, Amanda! Bouchercon is so much fun, and you are so right about how generous the authors are.

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  25. Well, congrats to all the Reds who have August book releases. Hank, TRUST ME is going to be fabulous and everybody will love it.

    Summer has been lazy up until now. But starting last weekend with my launch party, it gets crazy. Tomorrow the book releases (and the reviews this week from Dru Ann and Kristopher have me singing). Friday is my 22nd wedding anniversary and we are going out to dinner. Next Monday, we move The Girl into her dorm at the University of Pittsburgh and she's off to college. The following week, The Boy goes back to school. Somewhere in there I hope they start (and finish) the new sun room.

    And September doesn't look any less hectic!

    Mary/Liz

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  26. Aw, c’mon! We have at least 2 more months of summer in north Texas. Plans: read, quilt, pledge obedience to the gods of air conditioning, & eat as much cantaloupe as I can. Then head north (October) to gather apples to bring back to TX.. Cheers!

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    1. Don't forget the great State Fair of Texas in late September through October. Summer isn't really over until the Fair is done, is it?

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  27. Julia - we need to live closer. OOB is one of my favorite places in New England and I go there every few years with my family or my brother's in-laws (they have a house there). And my fave sandwich in the whole world is the open face tomato sandwich! Bliss! And, yes, it's SOOOOO wrong that school has begun. I have to go to open house tonight. Argh.

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  28. The modem that had faithfully connected me to the internet for 14 years quit a week ago Saturday. Missed you all so much. Finally a new one! Glad to be back. Thanks for being here.

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  29. I need to go to the lake it opened up after 14 years of being closed in my small town.

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    1. That sounds like a story, Donamae. Or the start of a mystery!

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  30. Well, I had HOPED that this summer would see me reading your latest Claire and Russ book, but ... *sigh.* I do understand you've been dealing with loss and life, so I'm not mad! But a lot of us are just looking forward to that book...

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