summer

A good wash day.

by

Definitely turning into my mthother: I am now identifying sunny, windy days like today in terms of laundry.

For the past couple of months I’ve called every balmy and breezy morning “a good wash day.” Because that’s what it is.

This has been a particularly warm summer and DF and I have used the clothesline to the maximum. If it isn’t laundry we’re hanging out, it’s the bedclothes and pillowcases: They smell so marvelous after a few hours in the air and sun.

I’ll even cop to looking for laundry where there is none, e.g., “Is it time to do a load of towels and bathrobes?” or “Have we washed the comforter lately?” Failing that, I’ll put the bedclothes out for the second day in a row.

My mom would approve. Like us, she hardly ever used the clothes dryer. None of the adult women I knew did. Why add to the electric bill when sun and wind are free?

 

Read more

A simple way to beat the summer heat.

by

thHot enough for ya? That’s what I figured. Although recent temperatures aren’t unduly onerous except in places like Phoenix, even an 80-something day can take the starch right out of you.

That’s why this week’s giveaway is a two-pronged approach to beating the heat: a literary getaway and a cold to drink, consumed in an air-conditioned place, to go with it.

 

Read more

Giveaway: A $50 gift card from Swagbucks.

by

thWant a $50 head start on your summer fun? Let the Swagbucks rewards site give it to you.

The program, which is my favorite rewards site, is sponsoring a “Gateway to Summer Fun Giveaway.” The prize: a $50 card from its Rewards Store.

Normally you get up to five ways to enter my site’s giveaways. This time it’s different: Only one entry per person is allowed, and you have to do a little work to get it.

The good news? Some of this “work” will actually benefit you – that is, if you like earning free gift cards year-round.

Read more

Summer on the wane.

by

thThe raspberries are winding down. I was picking from a pint to almost a quart every day for a while. Lately they’re ripening much more slowly and the ones that do ripen seem a bit collapsed and/or partly eaten.

Birds, I figured – until the day I saw wasps and honeybees landing on berries before I could get to them. They’d grab hold, lock on, and start sucking/chewing away.

This was so entertaining to watch that I had a hard time blaming them for bogarting the berries I really, really wanted for the freezer.

Can’t really blame them: I, too, want to extract every last bit of sweetness before the season ends.

Read more

Swimsuits, gleaning and Christmas in July.

by

thFor women, there are two kinds of bathing suits: the kind you promenade in and the kind won’t fall off when you dive into a pool/get hit by a wave.

The latter actually happened to me when I was a young teen, down at the Jersey Shore. Luckily my feet were planted in the sand so the suit bottom didn’t have a chance to float off, but for a few very anxious seconds I felt like the little girl at the end of this old Coppertone ad:

July is the best time for discounts on both bathing suits and summer clothing, according to a merchandising specialist at Retail Me Not. Tips for finding good deals on such can be found in my current post at RMN’s The Real Deal, “What to buy in July: Celebrate the best of summer, right in your own backyard.”

Read more

Vortex, shmortex: Just stay cool.

by

thThe other day I wished I could send some of our weather (52 degrees and raining) to the parched areas of the country, especially to farming regions. Turns out that the Gulf of Alaska was thinking along the same lines.

The Midwest and, eventually, the East Coast will be feeling the effects of “a poor man’s polar vortex” in the week to come. That’s what Washington Post weather editor Jason Samenow calls the “deep pool of cool air” that will dip down into the Great Lakes region in a day or so.

You’re welcome.

Before and after, though, U.S. residents worry about the cost of keeping cool. Nearly two-thirds of the 2,035 people surveyed by HomeServe USA are concerned about the hit that air conditioning will have on their budgets. Yet 55 percent will suck it up and pay whatever it takes to chill out.

Read more

The marvel of an Alaska summer.

by

thI am growing popcorn. Really. Last spring a company called Boom Chicka Pop offered free popcorn seeds. Knowing full well that you need either a greenhouse or floating row cover to grow corn successfully in Anchorage, I nevertheless requested seeds because hope springs eternal in the spring.

Ten corn plants are now flourishing in the heat sink that is the south side of our cream-colored home. In about a month’s time they’ve gone from sere seeds to six-inch green stems with multiple leaves, even though that month was marked by near-record amounts of rain and some very cool overnight temperatures.

Will they have sufficient heat and time even to set ears, let alone ripen them? Probably not. But I’m getting such a kick out of watching them grow that I don’t much care.

Read more

Giveaway: A $10 Starbucks gift card.

by

thIt’s summer and it’s hot. Beat the heat, if only temporarily, with a frou-frou cold beverage at Starbucks.

Some people say that hot tea and hot coffee are actually more cooling. They may be right.

To me, though, an iced tea or cold soft drink or even plain old water is what I want when I’m feeling hot and sticky.

Full disclosure: I don’t generally go to Starbucks because, well, frugal. But this week I’m making it easier on some reader’s budget by giving away $10 worth of SB gift cards.

Lemonade, iced coffee, Frappuccino, iced tea, something called a Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher — take your pick, as long as it’s under ten bucks.

Read more

Giveaway: Two $10 Starbucks cards.

by

th-1Seems that we finished our vacation just in time, escaping the Lower 48 barely ahead of a serious heat wave. (And I thought it was hot while we were there…!) Sorry for all of you whose feet are sticking to the softened asphalt.

This week’s giveaway won’t make the hot weather go away, but it’ll help you cope: I’m selecting two winners to receive $10 Starbucks gift cards. I’m not a coffee fan myself, but I understand the iced variety is quite cooling.

Coffee isn’t the only option, of course.

Read more

The first day of summer, the beginning of the end.

by

thAll around the country people recently celebrated the first day of summer (calendar-wise). The weather was gorgeous in Anchorage but I was a little sad. Up here, summer solstice means that in a day or so the light turns around.

If that sounds defeatist, it’s because it is. We’ll still have tons of light for quite some time, much more illumination than the Lower 48 gets. But I can’t shake the notion that it’s now going the other way.

I felt that way every solstice during my previous tenure in Alaska (1984-2001) and I feel that way now. May and June are the best months, in my opinion, even if the latter does turn on us each year on or around June 21. 

 

Read more