Gracie news first: all went well. The lump was removed, and the vet found a second one which was also removed. Her loose tooth came out and she got her nails cut. She was excited to be home and immediately ran into the yard. Her tail has yet to stop wagging.

The weather the last few days has been almost perfect. The days have been in the high 70’s and the nights in the mid 50’s. I had coffee and read the papers outside on the deck. The air was perfectly still, not a leaf fluttered. It was quiet. It was also quite warm, already 75˚. When I finished, I came inside to a cool house.

I remember the joy of the first day of summer vacation. I also remember the elation on the last day of school. It was always a half day. It was also the day we got our final report cards. The front with the grades didn’t matter as much as the back. That’s where it said promoted to the next grade. I was never worried but I still checked it right away.

We used to run home from school that day. Running seemed important even though we had the whole summer in front of us. I figure it was us getting away from school as quickly as we could, sort of like putting it in our rear view mirrors.

The best part of summer was going to bed when we were tired and getting up any time we wanted. We lived in shorts, jerseys and sneakers. We still had to wear our Sunday church clothes but only one day of dress-up was bearable.

Summer food was the easiest of all. We had toast most mornings, sandwiches for lunch and something quick and easy for supper. Bologna was my go to it lunch. It was in a roll, and I had to cut pieces. I never did it well. The end of the bologna ended up uneven, and some slices in the sandwich were thick while other were so thin you could just about see through them. I always added hot peppers to mine. They came uncut in a jar. I used to split the peppers, plop them in my sandwich and hold the sandwich with two hands so nothing would fall out.

The other day my groceries came. From the deli I had ordered bologna. It is still my favorite. Sometimes, for old times sake, I add cut jalapeños. Holding on to the sandwich is never a problem any more.