Today the trumpets sound and summer officially begins!

Simple seasonal pleasures I look forward to:

• The smell of freshly cut grass

• Raspberries, cherries, blueberries, rhubarb, and sweet corn

• Gurgling from the back yard waterfall

• Scents wafting from BBQ grills ... ours and the neighbors'

• Open windows at night, awaking to a slight morning chill

• Hummingbirds

• S'mores and weenies over the fire pit

• Covering with only a sheet at night

• Dinner parties, game nights, and margaritas on the patio

• Non-party dinners on the patio, just Jim and me ... and the girls, when they visit

• Hot air balloons floating over the house (although the part where they scare the cuss out of Lyla isn't so great)

• Root beer floats

• Sunny day BBQs with friends and family, our place or theirs

• Relaxing in our peaceful three-season porch ... which really can be enjoyed only one season — this season — in Colorado

• The sound of the ice cream truck rolling through the neighborhood (although it would be much more delightful if he updated his play list)

• Apples, peaches, plums, hollyhocks, geraniums, clematis, zinnias, roses, dianthus, day lillies, grape vines and the wild and crazy vine I've yet to identify, growing in the front yard and back. Plus others I try to get to grow in the front yard and back

• Rocking in my rocker on the deck, listening to the birds cheep and chirp and the wind chimes tinkle in the breeze

• Homemade ice cream, at least once

• Watering my flower buckets ... and the zucchini/pumpkin patch that will produce this time

• Our annual summer visit to the desert, this time to not only celebrate Bubby's birthday, but to meet his new baby brother Mac!

Today's question:

What simple pleasures of summer do you look forward to?

I love jams and jellies. Chokecherry, strawberry, pomegranate, cherry. Yum! I eat jam or jelly nearly every day. On peanut butter sandwiches. On crackers. On toast. On English muffins. On bagels. (Not all in the same day, of course.)

Recently though, as I toasted an English muffin, I noticed the honey in the cupboard and decided to travel that oft-ignored culinary road. So I put it on my toasted muffin instead of jelly or jam, took a big bite, and instantly thought, "Yum! Why don't I have honey more often?"

I always forget how much I love honey -- until I experience it again. I do the very same thing with lots of things, especially the following.

10 things I forget I love ... until I remember

1. Feeding the ducks at the park.

2. Cucumber pickles. Ya know, the delicacy that's just sliced cucumbers, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

3. Riding a bike.

4. Wearing a dress. So much more comfy than pants.

5. Singing "Amazing Grace." Like this.

6. Stretching out on the living room floor in front of a blazing fire.

7. Wrapping a wet toddler in a towel and holding him like a swaddled baby.

8. Campfires at night. With marshmallows on sticks and stars up above.

9. Brach's Milk Maid Caramels. Unwrapped slowly. Savored even more slowly.

10. Getting on the scale and the number being much lower than expected.

Okay, No. 10 hasn't happened in a long, long time. Probably because of all those Milk Maids I've been savoring of late. But I have no doubt whatsoever that I will remember how much I love it, if/when I'm fortunate enough to experience it again.

Today's question:

What would be on your list of things you forget you love ... until you remember?