Bumbling ball of summer-ready

In my mind, my birthday signals the real start of spring. I remember growing up, it seemed like my birthday was always sunny and 72 and involved lots of trees with full-blown leaves. With the happy occasion coming up in two weeks and nary a leaf nor a bud on any tree within 100 miles of DeMo, I’m a little disappointed. Last year, it had the audacity to snow on my big day. Unappreciated. It’s not looking quite that bad, we’ve hit 60 a few times and we even opened our windows Sunday to air the old homestead out.

But, I’m dreaming of more. For Mother Nature’s convenience, I have listed out my late spring/summertime demands:

• An entire day spent in my redneck inflatable swimming pool with good mellow music, hubs and a smattering of cold beverages.
• An after dinner bike ride to get ice cream at Snookie’s.
• Morning runs.
• Float trips with sunburns, snacks, pups and hippies.
• Naps on my couch with the windows open.
• Watching my now-seeds, plants-to-be Moonflowers open up at dusk.
• Bonfires and tank tops at night.
• Bocce tournaments.
• Snacking on homegrown cherry tomatoes.
• Fried zucchini.
• Bunches of flowers from the Farmer’s Market.
• Eating on patios, both mine and those of restaurants.
• The smell of fresh cut grass.
• Sweating outside of the gym.
• Demo-ing the old deck with a ragtag group of friendly volunteers.
• Barefootedness.
• Movie night in the backyard.
• Cats that look like this.

What are your seasonal demands?