Serenity.

Music is a big deal around our house, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned a time or two. Dale has been the lead singer in his band for 45+ years and, as such, he’s pretty much always singing. It’s sweet and comforting, I always know where he is, I just have to follow the tune! Even more than that, though, music is playing a lot at home. We’ve got those awesome Sonos speakers in every room (and outside now, too) and it’s just so easy to push a couple of buttons on my phone and get some tunes going.

I used to be a big user of Pandora and had a pretty carefully curated adult alternative station going but the commercials annoyed me and I wasn’t willing to pay to have them disappear. I also find it really weird that when you have Pandora create a station based on a particular artist it often seems like they play everything but music but that artist. Weird. I tried Apple music for a while and I have Amazon Prime so there’s also a limited music service with that.

About a year ago, though, prompted by seeing so many of you use it successfully, I switched to Spotify. I am so glad I did! I do pay for it ($9.99/month) but it’s worth every penny. I can listen to entire albums, I can create my own playlists as well as follow playlists of people I know, I can create a radio station that actually plays the music I want to hear, and it’s really just fantastic. It integrates easily with our Sonos speakers and I’m very satisfied with it. I’d love it if Dale would take the plunge and learn to use it, too, but for right now he’s content (sort of) to listen to whatever I select.

These days that’s a lot of The Avett Brothers (because I’m going to see them Saturday night!), some pretty good country honky tonk, and summertime music. I also really enjoy the Daily Mix that Spotify creates for me and the Discover Weekly and Release Radar lists, too. There’s just so much good music out there to listen to and I love how Spotify makes it so easy to find new music that I love.

I didn’t intend for this to sound like a commercial but I’ll admit it does! Please know that it’s not and it’s really just my own enthusiasm for music, Sonos and Spotify that has prompted this post.

I’m convinced that summer weekends are shorter than winter weekends! I know logically that weekends are the same amount of hours year round. I also know that summer weekends should seem longer since the days are longer. And yet – they seem shorter. Must be because of all the fun we have!

Fun that includes walking Jackie around the yard, showing him the mailbox and the flags, the bird feeders and the flowers and vegetables growing.

Fun like Friday Night Snacks. Our basil is exploding right now so I made a dip with cream cheese, feta, and basil. It was delicious spread on those fresh cucumbers. We didn’t grow those but when I looked at the garden yesterday I saw lots of tiny tiny cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini.

Also fun? A Blueberry Dutch Baby for Saturday morning. Light and yummy, it was a great way to start the day!

Honestly, what’s more fun than a campfire? Especially a campfire in your own backyard? We have always sat with the house behind us and Saturday night I said to Dale, why don’t we sit on the other side of the fire so that we can look back at the house? It was cozy and peaceful out there, we drank wine and toasted marshmallows and made s’mores with Ritz crackers instead of graham crackers (our new favorite) and it was a wonderful summer evening.

The best part of the weekend, though? The most fun? Getting local corn for the first time this season! I wait all year for that first bite of corn on the cob, buttery, salty and sweet, the kernels bursting in your mouth? Doesn’t get better than that!

How was your weekend? I really hope it was fun!

Returning from cool and lovely Maine to heat and humidity in Massachusetts? Not super fun. You know what made it bearable, though? Getting to spend Sunday with this little muffin!

Last week was the longest I’ve gone without seeing him since he was born and it was rough! I was grateful to have him with us all day on Sunday. We played. He napped. We danced. He ate. We laughed and smiled and snuggled and it was fabulous.

Next time I go on vacation I’m taking him with me so that I don’t miss a single tiny moment.