Summer Cover

I spent a lot of time in the sun during  Fourth of July weekend and it was totally glorious. Two river trips and a visit to the coast. Sun all day every day. But I burned my skin. A lot. My face, my arms, my legs, pretty much everything that was exposed. It's turning to tan now and is a necessary step of Oregon Summer but I feel a bit guilty due to things like skin cancer and wrinkles. I am going to start wearing more hats to circumvent this problem. This is my new dream hat:



It's by Stetson (so classic) and looks pretty much perfect. Cool, straw, nice straight brim (didn't you hate those janky cowboy hats with the crazy creased brims that were featured so prominently in Abercrombie and Fitch ads and photos of fratboys at Shasta? I did. I still do).

Also, I have two new obsessions:

1. I am officially obsessed with surfing. Before Fourth of July Weekend I felt like surfing was something that was kind of fun, but I was unusually daunted by the whole thing. I liked it but in a really grudging, hand-wringing kind of way. The wetsuit, the carrying of the board, the paddling, the avoiding of other people surfing, the tides, the whole thing. Sam would be giddy with joy and I would be, well, nervous mostly. But that changed. We had a sunny day out there and I felt like I was making progress and popping right up and paddling into things rather than just being pushed around. I want to go right now.

2. Watermelon juice. It's amazing! You just throw a bunch of watermelon in the blender and suddenly it's a delicious cooling juice. I drank it straight. I made alcoholic beverages with it. We used it to make melon jungle juice for a jungle juice party and won a prize. I will drink watermelon juice from now until you just can't buy watermelon anymore.