With the rain and hail continuing unusually into July, it doesn't feel terribly like Summer. But the season is here. Last summer was too windy for fires. This summer is too wet. But the season is here.
I have a new pastime this summer. Every Thursday at work there is a cookout and Student Life grills burgers and brats and hot dogs. There are potato chips and pickles and friends. We sit at the hot picnic tables and chat and see each other, emerged for once from the little hobbit homes we inhabit across campus.
I like this little summer ceremony every week. I like seeing how people come together. There is music. I wish we had a piano we could push outside. I'm not ready to play in public, but I am sure someone is.
I want more parties. I think I have been alone too long and the presence of others is more like a medical necessity than a frivolous desire. Can I get my doctor to write a prescription for parties? And if she would, could I convince my introvert friends to come on by?
I want a hot evening and a bitter cocktail. I want friends at my picnic table and around the firepit. I want a simple menu with halumi and margherita pizza.
My firepit is full of water so I will leave you with a cocktail recipe only.
Mix campari with vermouth and a little soda. Drink with ice and friends.
