Chasing Sunbeams: A Summer Blog Tag

 

Something very exciting has happened today: I was tagged for this Summer Blog Tag, started by Julie of The Moonlight Wanderer! 

The rules are: 

1. Acknowledge who tagged you! (Thank you, Julie)

2. Answer the questions!

3. Tag friends!

4. Have fun!

The questions:

1. What's a book you read with summer vibes?

2. If you could travel anywhere this summer, where would you go?

3. What's a poem or quote that reminds you of summer?

4. Describe your favorite summer memory.

5. Your ideal summer is filled with _______, _________, and _________.

6. What is your favorite summer food?

7. Favorite summer activities?

8. How do you usually celebrate 4th of July?

9. What's a song that reminds you of summer?

10. What are you most excited for this summer?

My answers:

1. What's a book you read with summer vibes?

There are lots of summery books out there, but the one that stands out most to me is These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I know that parts of the book are in winter and autumn, but the most memorable parts for me are the chapters on the Ingalls claim during the summer. We see the family growing vegetables, raising chickens and cows, enjoying visits from family, and going for drives, all in the summer.

2. If you could travel anywhere this summer, where would you go?

I would go to the New Forest in southern England - we go there every year and we're planning to go there again! I love it in the summer, especially the smell of hot bracken and gorse on the heaths, and seeing the ponies in the sun, and being cool in the forest when it's hot everywhere else.

3. What's a poem or quote that reminds you of summer?

This poem isn't directly linked to summer, but "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray reminds me of summer evenings in the countryside. This particular verse reminds me of that atmosphere:

Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight,

         And all the air a solemn stillness holds,

Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,

         And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

(Here's a link to the whole poem.)

4. Describe your favorite summer memory.

My favourite is probably more like a set of memories: going to a particular beach in Dorset and spending long days there swimming and rock-pooling, then getting home very late in the dark.

5. Your ideal summer is filled with _______, _________, and _________.

Friends, reading, and rainy days (I really do like rain in the summer - it has such a lovely smell!)

6. What is your favorite summer food?

Chocolate ice-cream and strawberries.

7. Favorite summer activities?

I love to go to the beach and swim. I also enjoy going for walks and having the chance to read lots of books!

8. How do you usually celebrate 4th of July?

I actually don't celebrate 4th of July as it's not really a thing in England...

9.What's a song that reminds you of summer?

I found it hard to think of an answer for this one, but the one I'll have to go for is "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles.

10.What are you most excited for this summer?

Learning (at last!) how to drive! Also, moving house and organising everything beautifully and sorting out the garden and so on.

Now, I tag:

Lizzie Hexam @ Starlight and Saucepans

Emily and Julie @ The Idlewood Archives

Julie @ Genius Burns

Hannah @ Inkling Corner
Ruth @ The Bend in the Road

Liz Churchill @ The Antique Bookworm

Cordy {Samantha Elizabeth} @ Any Merry Little Thought

Thanks again, Julie! I really enjoyed answering this!