For me, summers in Australia were always about spending all of our sunlight hours outside: in the pool, at the beach, riding our bikes, playing backyard cricket with all the local kids, riding round to the milk bar and buying red frogs (and Bubble-o Bill ice creams without telling Mum!), lounging in the shady Jacaranda tree across the road. When we weren’t watching the Aussie cricket team punish everyone on TV, we watched The Parent Trap endlessly on our trusty old VHS.

[Source]

They were such carefree times, when all we feared was a neighbourhood dog (a la The Sandlot Kids), you lost your turn when you hit the cricket (tennis) ball over the fence in cricket (to be ‘6 & out’), and you lived for ice cold Cottee’s red cordial with your triangle sandwiches at lunch.

I have such fond memories growing up in Australia, and I am so thankful for the opportunities it provided me… and I guess, I’m a little nostalgic. And having spent the day out in the searing 100 degree heat in the far East Bay, I have been thinking lots about the season of summer, what it means to spend summer in the Bay and what kind of traditions I can be a part of…

Here’s a few beautiful images to get you into the summer spirit, especially if you’re enjoying the first of the winter cold snaps back home in Oz.

[Source: L O L I T A] {via Mary Ruffle}

[Source: Design*Sponge] {via Mary Ruffle}

[Source: Audrey Hepburn Complex] {via Mary Ruffle}

[Source: Once Wed] {via Mary Ruffle}

And I’m LOVING this engagement photo I stumbled upon on Flikr. That’s just too beautiful for words… I would love something like that on my wall. SIGH…

What do you love about summer?
What traditions do you have when the sun’s high in the sky and the mercury’s rising?

xTRP