A Summer Questionnaire, or Stealing Jeanie's Post

I so enjoyed reading Jeanie's answers on her blog, The Marmelade Gypsy that I asked if I could do the same thing. There is a series of questions that I will attempt to answer, but it is always tough for me to make final decisions because there are so many variables out there. Jeanie included wonderful pictures with hers. I think mine will just be text. Here goes:

1. Walk, Bike, or Ride?  Being as I live in a really rural area and nothing is within walking distance, except maybe the post office, my answer would be ride, as in my vehicle. (Love my "new to me" Toyota Rav 4, by the way).

2. Favourite picnic food:  We honestly haven't done an actual, proper picnic for years. So, instead I will describe what our little family would do when we would visit a farmer's market during the summer. When the kids were little, we would go to this very large market (which also includes livestock sales) and wander around, look at the animals, and purchase specific food items: yellow plums, a baguette, pepperoni-type sausages, maybe cherries, and something to drink (my daughter claims it was rootbeer). We would go to where we had parked our vehicle, open up the back and have an outdoor picnic of our purchases.

3. Pool or lake?  We have a pool, so I would have to say pool because you can lounge, not worry about sand, grab a drink from the pool fridge, and not have to navigate the crowds at a beach. However, we have Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes about a 40 minute drive from here and have some wonderful family memories of Sauble Beach and Port Elgin.

4. Favourite flavour of ice cream?  See now, that's a particularly hard one. That's like asking who is your favourite child? If I am in the mood for ice cream, and had to narrow it down, I especially love a Dairy Queen Smarties Blizzard, but I also love a chocolate dipped soft swirly vanilla ice cream in a cone.  (It's the combination of crunch and smooth!)

5. Ice cream cone or in a dish?  Well a blizzard comes in a cup. If I was having a scoop of ice cream at an ice cream place where you choose from many wonderful choices, I would probably have a waffle cone.

6. Flip flops or slides?  Here is something you don't know about me. I have to be particular about my shoes due to an old annoying knee thing. If my shoes are too flat (which can be said about most flip flops), my knee will be giving me pain within minutes. So whatever I wear has to have a bit of a heel (I'm not talking high heels, but just not flat). As well, I can't wear any of these new ultra comfortable shoes that have a squishy sole to them because of knee pain as well. To top it off, my feet are fairly narrow, so slides have to be fitted, otherwise I "slide" around in them.  My current favourite is a pair of birkenstocks that go between the toes. I love shoes, but have to do a lot of trying on before I find ones that will suit me.

7. Jean shorts or jean capris?  As with Jeanie, either one, but if they are capris, they must go beyond the knee, otherwise I look like my mother. Dark denim preferably.

8. Favourite summer fruit? Again, who is your favourite child?  Strawberries in season, not shipped from Mexico and the consistently of a golf ball. Peaches - oh dear lord, peaches. Yellow plums that are perfectly ripe. Dark cherries - there is a bowl on my counter top right now that is full of huge, delicious dark cherries and I grab one or two every time I walk through the kitchen.

9. Corn on the cob, or cut off the cob?  One the cob, please. Must have butter (or margarine) and salt. Haven't had my first "feed" of local sweet corn yet, but soon! Sweet corn and fresh tomatoes - nothing says August better!

10. Favourite summertime song?  I decided to narrow it down to two songs, but there are so many from my youth (misspent youth?) - Summer Breeze by Seals and Crofts  and Heat Wave by Martha and the Vandellas.

11. Favourite summertime activity? I would probably say just getting together with friends, having a barbecue, sitting outside, relaxing. Second to that would be vegetable gardening and eating what I have grown.

12. Favourite berry?  I would say strawberry but only local (as in my own back yard). Second place would be blueberry for things like putting on my cereal, having with oatmeal/eggwhite pancakes, or blueberry desserts.

13. Bikinis, tankinis, or one piece?  I have NEVER been a confident bathing suit person. I always wanted to be one of those thin easy going gals who could just frolic around in a bikini, but I never was. I have worn two piece bathing suits but usually on vacations to the Dominican Republic or Cuba where I am in a crowd of many, but ridiculously still feel self-conscious. Now I am more likely to go tankini. I have black bottoms that I pair up with a variety of tops. I do own a couple of one-piece bathing suits, but quite frankly, ladies, am I right in saying that they are a pain in the neck when you have to go to the bathroom? Just putting that out there.

14. Dresses or skirts?  In nice weather, dresses, for sure. I love the ease of putting on one piece of clothing. In fall or winter, (i.e. most of our year), slim skirts which I like to pair up with a great pair of boots (think riding boots).

15. One word to describe summer?  Glorious!

Thanks for letting me steal your questionnaire, Jeanie (and I think you mention you got it from someone else's blog, too). Happy summer, everyone!