Hot Town, Summer in the City (Friday Five)

This Friday Five courtesy of RevGalBlogPals:



1. Favorite summer food(s) and beverage(s)
Just about anything from a charcoal grill -- which I don't get much of lately because Onkel H has been stonewalling about buying a new grill since we moved.
The food at West Denmark Family Camp, which is often not necessarily summery, but nearly always good (especially in recent years). Especially if we get rødgrød med fløde!

2. Song that "says" summer to you. (Need not be about summer explicitly.)
Songs from the summers of 1966 and 1967 -- Summer in the City by the Lovin' Spoonful, Red Rubber Ball, Bus Stop (Under My Umbrella), The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha, and of course, all of Sgt. Pepper. Oh yeah -- "If you go to San Francisco, Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair!"
And -- my father used to sing "In the Good Old Summertime" to me and I thought it was written especially for me. Here is a picture of us fishing, at Pine Harbor, Georgia, when Daddy was stationed at Camp (now Fort) Stewart.

3. A childhood summer memory
Brownie Day Camp in Wiesbaden, Germany. Our leader, if I recall this correctly, was a Swiss woman married to a Norwegian who was in (I'm assuming) the U.S. Navy. The perfect person from whom to learn "Vreneli". Sit-upons, s'mores, the whole Brownie experience, happening "im Walde". (By the way, I could not find a suitable link for "Vreneli" in the Internet! Not even on Mudcat's Digitrad of folk lyrics! But if you can get hold of a Girl Scout songbook such as The Ditty Bag, or a copy of World of Song, you will see it there.)

4. An adult summer memory
Again it's West Denmark Family Camp, which has been a part of my summers for 30 years now. When the children were small, the freedom of knowing they were playing on the swings or in the sandbox, with numerous relatives and friends around to look out for them if I stepped away. As they grew older, sharing the crafts we made, singing and dancing together, and for some years now enjoying their thoughtful contributions to the discussions. I wish everyone could go to something like this.

5. Describe a wonderful summer day you'd like to have in the near future. (weather, location, activities)
I'll be heading for Minneapolis and West Denmark next Tuesday, so I expect to have some! I'd like to be able to bring some Maine weather along though, as Minneapolis tends to be quite hot and humid this time of year. But the location and activities aren't as important for me as being with my children, other family, and old friends, and I know all those things will happen.

Optional: Does your place of worship do anything differently in the summer? (Fewer services, casual dress, etc.)
Well, the choirs stopped singing two weeks ago, and I think this past Sunday may have been the end of the handbell choir for the summer. There may be some visiting musicians, and I especially enjoy the times when we have a hymnsing with people calling out their favorites (although I'm always too shy!)