Rethinking Lifestyle

Ah! The lazy, hazy days of summer. On the radio, I heard an interview by Nadia Kidwai on the perfect recipe for a great summer. There were three ingredients mentioned: food, family/friends and freedom. I agree that all of those make for a great summer, but I want to add a fourth and that is a special summer connection to the earth. We do that in many diverse ways. Some of us plant gardens, some of us beautify our yards, some go for bicycle rides on a beautiful evening, others will go on a road trip or go camping, canoeing or hiking or sitting by a bonfire staring mesmerized into the flames. Our connection to nature is so much easier and convenient in the summer; no parkas, toques, mitts, and boots, just put on your sandals and go.

I remember it was dangerous to admit to my mother that I was bored in summer because she immediately found a job for me to do. So we learned not to admit being bored, and that turned into actually not being bored. I have heard, probably from my mother, that being bored means a lack of imagination. Large blocks of time without commitment allow for creative thinking and I remember my friends and I dreamed and designed grand treehouses in the woods behind my house. The actual build was obviously not as good as the dream, but it was our own creation and we loved spending hours there. All that was required was imagination, a few resources and the freedom to do it. Cloud watching also improves the imagination considerably.

Thinking of food, my grandfather was a grocer and made deliveries, allowing my cousins and I to ride along if we helped carry in the groceries. The details of the trips I forget, but I do remember he would invariably stop to buy an ice cream cone for us on the way home. That was such a great food memory that I still remember it to this day. Other memories of food come from a camping trip that my friend Gerry and I had with a great woodsman we met at the university. Tom Findlay could live off the land indefinitely and he introduced us to sumac and juniper tea, cattail shoots steamed for a few minutes to go along with our pan fried lake trout.

Fresh fruit is one of the joys of summer in Manitoba. The cherries, saskatoons, strawberries and raspberries are wonderful right now and the anticipation of crisp apples in late summer brings memories of harvest time on the prairies.

One of my favorite jobs of the summer was to shell the peas that my mother had picked earlier in the morning. It was one of the rare times that we were allowed to listen to the radio. I remember fondly sitting in the shade with a large bowl between my legs and filling it numerous times with peas. The blanching, bagging and freezing was a quick process compared to shelling. Those peas were an awesome addition to winter dining.

I think I will go out right now and check to see if the peas are ready.