A childhood phrase that I cherished for years was “Hold onto summer.” My summers were idyllic. My family and I had a special place, memories that I captured in my memoir, Thinking of Miller Place. It was the one-acre property and surrounding little “world” of Miller Place where we could climb trees, eat raspberries, swinging lazily on the canvas hammock, rock back and forth on the glider, and go as high as we could on the rope swing, and have Sunday bar-b-ques with sweet Long Island corn. And the beach was five minutes away.

It wasn’t so much the warm weather but the activities and feelings that summer offered: peaceful, calm, exciting, adventurous.

Now that I live in Tucson, summer is quite different, at least weather-wise. Triple digits temps are rationalized with “it’s a dry heat.” Still, loyal as I am to my adopted state, that’s pretty hot.

What’s wonderfully the same for me are the feelings and memories we’re building with the hiking in the cooler mountains, reading on the patio and slipping into our spool to cool off, full moon times outside, and dinner and concerts with friends. This summer has been especially adventurous. A trip back to New Jersey and Long Island to visit friends and family and a road trip to the California and Oregon, and Idaho brought us coast to coast.

For your enjoyment here are some of my summer memories. What’s a summer memory of yours?