Summertime in View

Summer hasn’t started yet, but lately I’ve been reminded of what I love about it. The other day I was walking to Nob Hill foods, and I saw something on the ground. Glancing at it quickly I thought “That is exquisitely made.” So I stopped and look. It had a head, and eyes – it was a lizard – and it was exquisitely made. It was big, and missing most of its tail, which was cleanly cut off.

When I got back home to check on the Internet I discovered it was a Northwestern Alligator Lizard. I recognized the woven design I found so beautiful that I thought it was “man made”. I had never seen one before. Alligator lizards have always been synonymous with summer for me. I love to hike and as the weather warms up they always dash across the trail. Sometimes I’ll be resting on a boulder and a lizard will make it clear I’m not welcome, doing pushups to show dominance. As a kid I always liked “Ventura Highway” by America and their reference to “Alligator Lizards in the air…”

Last weekend I took a hike on Mother’s Day in Briones Regional Park and there were several artists with their easels, wide brimmed hats, and light colored clothes, painting and drawing along the start of the trail at the end of Briones Road. It was a hot day, and the stillness in the air made it seem dream-like. To see these artists and their visions of the dry summer hills was a beautiful sight. In the late 1880s George Seurat introduced a new type of painting style called, Pointillism. His painting “Sunday Afternoon in the Park La Grande Jatte” is summertime to me, and seeing the artists on the trail made me think about the simple pleasures we can find when we take the time to completely enjoy something we love.

When it’s too hot I like to walk on the Waterfront, and it seems like it becomes more festive as summer comes nearer. I saw a family sitting at a picnic table. They had bread and salads and a large melon on the table. Each time I go there’s at least two or three kites flying. As a child my dad and his wife would take us to Hacienda Winery in Sonoma for a picnic. We’d stop at the deli that’s still there and buy salami and cheese. Then we’d drive up to the Winery and sit at a table by the creek and eat our lunch. It wasn’t too far away, but it felt like another world. We always explored the winery, which used to have a cave where they’d have barrels of wine. It would be so deliciously cool compared to the heat outside, and the smell of the wine was so exotic to me.

My favorite drink for summer is lemonade. I like to make it from scratch with fresh lemons and simple syrup. I’ll place some lemon zest in the sugar water while it heats to release the fragrant oils that intensify the lemon taste. That’s often how I start the summer, with homemade lemonade, sitting in the shade, staring out on the trees on the hill and listening to the birds sing. I love summertime, and all that it brings with it each day, as well as wonderful memories of the past.