Tag: summer

#SummerSolsticeReadalong

#SummerSolsticeReadalong

sandybarker

It’s that time of the year! Solstice!!!

I am excited to be participating in the Summer Solstice Read-along.

Solstice Read

‘But, Sandy, aren’t you in Australia?’ I hear you ask. Why, yes, I am, but I always celebrate Winter solstice each year, as even though we’re less than a month into Winter by now, the days will start to get longer – something to be grateful for when you are a Summer lover like I am.

So, for the inaugural Summer Solstice Read-along, organised by the fabulous Emma Jackson, there are 15 romance authors who have all swapped books. I am reading Lynne Shelby’s latest, The Summer of Taking Chances. I’ve loved Lynne’s previous books and this was no exception! Such a great read and I will tell you why in just a moment.

So, join us! Post your pics (where and what are you reading?) and book covers on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #SummerSolsticeReadalong and share your reads on Facebook too!

SUMMER OF TAKING CHANCES

About the book

It’s been ten years since Emma Stevens last laid eyes on Jake Murray. When he left the small seaside village of South Quay to chase the limelight, Emma’s dreams left with him.

Now Emma is content living a quiet and uneventful life in South Quay. It’s far from the life she imagined, but at least her job at the local hotel has helped heal her broken heart.

But when Jake returns home for the summer to escape the spotlight, Emma’s feelings quickly come flooding back. There’s clearly a connection between them, but Jake has damaged her heart once already – will she ever be able to give him a second chance?

My review

You will fall back in love with life in this wonderful, romantic story of second chances. I’m a lover of all things theatre, especially Shakespeare, so the small town production of Romeo and Juliet was a wonderful thread throughout this story. I absolutely loved the cast of characters, especially Emma, who lost sight of her dream, and was a heroine to champion!

This is a deep dive into the themes of second chances, being true to yourself and following your dreams.

A must read!

Where can you get it?

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Kobo

Lake Life

Lake Life

sandybarker

They call Minnesota Land of 10,000 lakes, and Ben and I are spending most of the summer at one of them – well, technically, we’re on a chain of 14 lakes called the Whitefish chain.

With so many lakes, many families in Minnesota have a lake cabin – some of them in the family for generations, like the one Ben and I are staying at – and some of these ‘cabins’ are luxury homes only used a few weeks a year.

‘Our cabin’, on a small lagoon on Rush Lake, is not a luxury home, but it’s luxurious to us, because this is our view from the deck:

Maker:L,Date:2017-9-28,Ver:5,Lens:Kan03,Act:Kan02,E-Y

 

Simply, it is beautiful here.

The cabin was built nearly a hundred years ago and was bought into Ben’s family in the 1950s. They’ve been coming here every Summer ever since and Ben spent a lot of his childhood here.

On the inside, it looks like this:

Maker:L,Date:2017-9-28,Ver:5,Lens:Kan03,Act:Kan02,E-Y

Yes, that’s a charming hodge podge of furniture, housewares and artifacts that span decades, including a fairly strong representation from the 80s (like the collection of VHS movies) – check out that carpet!

Lake life itself means being on the water. At least once a day, we head out on either the jetski (Ben’s) or the pontoon (the family’s). We may be going somewhere specific – all of the restaurants in the area and the nearest town, Crosslake, are accessible by water and have docks where we ‘park’ – or we may just cruise around exploring. The other day we rode the perimeter of Rush Lake and found some lagoons Ben has never seen before – even after coming up here for 30+ years. Oh, and that’s Ben going to the store on the jetski to pick up a few things.

Skyline
Ben going to the store
Blue skies

Lake like is also about a slower pace and savouring the little moments, liking making S’Mores over the firepit:

And stopping for coffee at the local coffee shop:

And exploring Crosslake:

00100dportrait_00100_burst20180714101233252_cover
butterfly chair

And lounging on the water:

Maker:L,Date:2017-9-28,Ver:5,Lens:Kan03,Act:Kan02,E-Y
lounging

And exploring the surrounding forests:

And having fun with visiting friends:

 

And the wildlife! On the property are red and grey squirrels, chipmunks, and green frogs, who keep Ben up at night with their raspy ribbits. The lagoon is frequently visited by two families of geese – one with young cygnets and one with teenagers – a family of ducks, a stunning blue heron who flies arcs over us, and a woodpecker! There’s a muskrat that lives under the bridge who’s also busy collecting reeds, and we’ve seen painted turtles, bald eagles (one being chased by a starling), and a multitude of fish. And my favourite this summer has got to be the state bird, the beautiful loon. They are are a large water bird who have a distinctive call, and I just love them.

Perhaps most surprising has been the skies. Many mornings are a moody grey which melts away to a brilliant cerulean dotted with white puffs. We’ve had nighttime lightening storms which have gone on for hours, a surreal strobe-light effect that always looks fake in films, but is surprisingly real. But most of all, the sunsets take my breath away.

img_20180709_205529-effects
taken by me, edited by Ben

 

And these stunners by Ben:

lagoon
moody skies
from the beach

Of course, we’re both still working – Ben for his client in Australia and the publication date of my second novel is only 5 days away (!) so I am madly editing – but we take time each day to enjoy where we are and the easy pace of lake life. So far, it’s been a brilliant summer.

Heatwave

sandybarker

Seattle 2008 027_edited

The thermometer in the northwest of the U.S. has nudged (and sometimes tipped over) the 100F mark for the past few days now.

As an Aussie girl yearning for a ‘real’ summer’s day, I was equally thrilled (It’s hot!) and amused (Will the people here please stop freaking out?) when I saw the forecast.

But you see, Seattle is equipped for the cold, not the heat.  Our apartment, with its two tiny windows in the living room, has central heating, but no air-conditioning.

We are on the bottom floor and face north, so our place cooler than most other apartments in this building, but there is no air movement.  If I cook for more than a few minutes, it gets very hot in here.

“We are eating only raw food for the next few days,” I informed Ben.  He rarely complains about anything, and this revelation was no exception.  I think he is just thrilled that I am willing to prepare dinner at all – cooked or raw.

Sleeping has presented its own problems.  Two nights ago was the hottest night on record in Seattle – 71F/21C, which is very warm when you’re trying to sleep.

In my last apartment in Sydney, I had many windows.  On a night like that I would have thrown them all open, and enjoyed a cooling sea breeze throughout the night.  Not here.

Here we sleep under only a sheet, with a giant fan blowing on us.  We sleep perfectly still to avoid the chance of touching or generating any superfluous body heat.

And you cannot buy a fan or air-conditioner in the entire north-west at the moment.  Sold out!

Yesterday Ben and I were out in search of a salad spinner (so my life would be complete).  We got our salad spinner (and my life IS complete), but as we left the store, a man pulled up in a car, leaned  out the window and asked a staff member, “Do you have any fans?”  “Nope,” was the heart-breaking reply.

“Really?” an incredulous Ben asked me.  “I know this is unusually hot weather, but it gets warm here.  Don’t people have fans anyway?”  It’s a good point.  We have been sleeping with a fan on all summer.

“You know, we have two fans,” he continued.  “I bet we could sell one for $100 right now.”   When we got back to the car, the thermometer read ‘104’.  “I think we should keep the fan,” I countered.

Forecasters predicted that yesterday would be the hottest day in Seattle’s recorded history.  They were right.  While we were buying a salad spinner, the city of Seattle was suffering.  It is not used to the heat, it is not built for heat, and it is ill-equipped when a wave of it hits.

Malls, cinemas, and parks with wading pools are bursting at the seams.  Restaurant takings have gone through the roof in recent days.  People are showing up to work early and staying late, because most people here do not have air-conditioning at home.

Having said all that, I write this from the coolness of our apartment while outside it is 91F/33C.  If we keep the blinds closed, the fans on, and the cooking to a minimum, we can keep it cool in here so sleep comes easier.  A salad for dinner tonight, methinks.

So, the cynic is silenced.

Yes, it is hot, even for an Aussie girl.

Finally, I am reminded of a favorite poem by Shel Silverstein.  Enjoy.

It’s Hot!
It’s hot!
I can’t get cool,
I’ve drunk a quart of lemonade,
I think I’ll take my shoes off
And sit around in the shade.

It’s hot!
My back is sticky,
The sweat rolls down my chin.
I think I’ll take my clothes off
And sit around in my skin.

It’s hot!
I’ve tried with ‘lectric fans,
And pools and ice cream cones.
I think I’ll take my skin off
And sit around in my bones.

It’s still hot!

Pwerhouse Museum collection

Spring has sprung

sandybarker

Today is the first day of spring. And in Sydney, spring is my favourite time of the year.
Wisps of white
Dark mornings of drizzle give way to pink and orange sunrises, and the midday sky turns a vibrant blue. The air smells fresh, like grandma’s house when she throws open the windows and gives it a good airing. And in spring, I forget about all those winter afternoons I arrived home after dark to a cold house.

I fell in love with Sydney in spring. I had come here for the Olympics. I was a volunteer, so spent several weeks dressed in daggy chinos and a hideous, over-sized polo shirt with bright yellow sleeves. Nevertheless, it was easy to forget how ridiculous I looked in my white straw hat and bright blue bum bag, because the city of Sydney put on a bloody good show.

Each day was perfect. 28 (82) degrees, a light breeze and the aforementioned blue skies. Every day! It was as though the organisers had placed their order for optimum weather, and nature had delivered.

I was utterly seduced by Sydney in the spring of 2000.

I flew back to Perth post-Olympics and announced to anyone who cared (and some who didn’t) that I was moving to Sydney. Three months later, I lived here. I arrived on the 30th of December, because I liked the symbolism of seeing in the new year in my new city.

But here in my new city, in the middle of summer, reality bit – hard! Gone were the blue skies, and the gentle breezes. Gone were days of 28 perfect degrees, and in their place were the brooding, heavy skies of the Sydney summer. I had been duped.

You see in my hometown, Perth, summers are my favourite time of the year. The days are hot, yes, but the skies are clear, and the heat is dry. I love summer in Perth, but when I tasted spring in Sydney, and expected more of the same only hotter, I was being naive.

No, the summers in Sydney are grey-skied and humid. Sticky, hot days are threatened by low-hanging thunder clouds. And just when the air gets so dense you can feel it pushing down on you, it pours: fat, hot drops of angry rain that make the streets steam and the air smell like grease.

And indulge me for a moment while I mention my hair. A Sydney summer is the natural enemy of naturally curly hair. Mine grows so big in a Sydney summer, it needs its own postcode. Honestly, if I had wanted to live in the tropics, I would have moved to Queensland.

So, how do I cope with this abomination of summer?

I leave.

Ever since that first summer, I have actively avoided being in Sydney from late December to the start of February, which is fortuitous, because that is when school breaks for summer holidays. I cannot really see my principal being sympathetic to tales of woe about my afro. “But I simply cannot stay. You see, it is summer, and I cannot deal with that many bad hair days in a row.”

Summer is no fun when you look like Donna Summer.

I have spent many of those summers back in Perth. Ahhh, Perth. Perth is where summer was born, raised, and will never die. The beaches are powdery white, and the surfers deeply tanned. The air is briny, and the sky is so brilliantly blue, it is almost iridescent.
Cosy Corner
Stunning!

So, why has a girl so in love with summer agreed to live in Seattle? Isn’t Seattle the home of, well, rain? And isn’t rain the opposite of summer? Ah, yes, these are all valid questions. But you see, Seattle hides a secret. I does not actually rain there nine months of the year as often reported. It is more like eight months, but those other four…sigh…are beautiful.
Seattle Waterfront
See?

So, when I move there in late December (that whole ‘new year – new city’ thing), I will take my umbrellas (plural, ’cause you never know when one will be sucked into traffic by a gust of wind), and I will look forward to the Seattle summer of ’09. I am promised blue skies, gentle breezes, and about 28 degrees. Sound familiar?