The current passion

Our local newspaper, The Kansas City Star, runs a column (usually once a week, I think) about things that a selected columnist currently feels passionate about. Here's my list:


Seedless watermelon: as a kid every summer my favorite food would always be my mother's mustard potato salad and cold watermelon. This summer my watermelon taste has returned with a vengeance. Hubby likes cantaloupe and honey dews. I prefer huge juicy red wedges of watermelon sprinkled with salt.



The newspaper delivered by Kindle every morning: my father worked for the Kansas City Star for over 30 years and he loved that paper (this was when the Star was employee owned and was delivered both morning and evening -- the morning paper was the Kansas City Times). During my adult years I've tried having the newspaper delivered and thought when the paper had become a once-a-day publication, I could actually keep up with reading it. But I never could. The paper would be delivered for a month or so and pretty soon I would have piles of never opened rolls of newspaper gathering by my front door, in my yard, and stuffed in all the nooks and crannies of the house. However, I tried a monthly subscription on my Kindle when I first got it and found that, even without pictures and obits and comics, this was a habit I could quickly adopt. There are no bulking pages to try and fold out, there are no leftovers to dispose of (simply erase right off the Kindle), and best of all no advertising comes with the subscription so no huge sections of auto, food, and furniture sales to throw away. Now I read the paper daily.


USA and cable summer TV series: its great to have new episodes of Leverage, White Collar, Burn Notice, and Royal Pains to watch when the prime time networks are showing reruns of NCIS, Glee, and the Mentalist. Even worse for me are the endless reality shows that ABC, NBC, and CBS introduce in the summer. Who cares which bachelor is chosen or what happens in the Big Brother house? Certainly not anyone in this family.


Making travel plans: sometimes looking forward to a vacation is almost as good as taking one. We are going to Washington DC and Annapolis for a couple of weeks in July and the family is joining us there on Chesapeake Bay. It's fun to exchange emails as we research our tourist plans and settle on beach reading material. Hubby actually went clothes shopping and got new shorts, shirts and shoes. I know the trip itself will whirl by in an instant -- but we are having a great time extending the whole thing with lots of fun planning time.

Going to bed at 1 p.m. and sleeping past 6 a.m.: every morning when I wake up at 5 a.m. and realize I don't have to get up and get ready for work, my heart gives a happy little skip and jump.


Summer is a time for relaxing and recuperation from the stress of the teaching schedule. It's a time for cooking up interesting dishes and eating them at no prescribed schedule. It's the time when bedtime can come when you want to sleep. Naps can be had when you feel tired. Laundry need not wait until the weekend. Best of all, the dogs get cuddling 24 / 7. Maybe best of all is the ability to write in one's blog when the idea hits -- not just when the odd brief moment of free time is available. Once the paper writing was completed, this has turned into a really great summer.