Brilliant Sunny Summer Days

 

 California Home and Design, May June 2009, Photo by Matthew Millman

I look forward to summer. I look forward to warm weather and days at the beach and ice cream. So when I see photos of spaces that remind me of sandy feet and ripe peaches dripping down the corners of my mouth, and penny poker games outside while the sun sets….I can feel the tensions of my work day release. I can mentally take a breather and swing in my little mind hammock for a few moments.

Martha Stewart Living, June 2009, Photo by Peter Murdcock

These are just a few images that remind me of those days when our family would pack up the car with a summer’s worth of clothes ( which would be five t-shirts, three pairs of shorts and two bathing suits, with one pair of tennis shoes, and flip flops…and a sundress just in case), games and the dog and drive to the beach house for a month and a half.

Martha Stewart Living, June 2009, Photo by Peter Murdock

We would share a house with my cousins that my grandfather had built on Balboa Peninsula back in 1915 or so. It was a flat roofed Spanish bungalow with Dutch doors, an outside shower to rinse off the sand and a refrigerator as old as the house  that stood up on legs. I loved that house.

We sailed and played at the beach every day. We walked to the library for summer reading….there was no TV. We played cards and backgammon and dug foxholes in the sand lot next to the house. We rode bikes up and down the board walk and walked to the bakery for doughnuts every Sunday. We were stubbed toed and sunburned. And very happy.      

Traditional Home, June, July 2009, Photo by Michael Luppino

These images remind me of those days when all  seven of us cousins and siblings would pile into one bed and listen to one of our parents read us a book before bed, while the waves brushed the sand and the cicadas sang us to sleep.