ELIZABETH G.: RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS

Actually that’s the first part of the title of a best-selling memoir by Beverly Donofrio. (Riding in Cars with Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good.) It’s also the title of the 1991 movie version of Ms. Donofrio’s memoirs starring Drew Barrymore. I know because I looked it up on the internet after the title for this blog popped into my head.

Anyway, it’s a fine day in September as I sit poised in front of my computer. Summer is almost over. Pfffftttt, as Snoopy would say, sticking out his tongue. I missed summer this year due to a series of "incidences," including a family crisis or two, an injured knee (owwww!!!!) and a writing schedule run amok. Such is life.

The lazy summers of my childhood are gone, anyway. Days spent with nothing more pressing to do than go for a swim, take a bike ride, or read a book or two or three are a thing of the past. Now summer is just another busy season of the working year that I occasionally "miss" altogether.

BUT always one to look on the bright side, I’m going to share with you a few of the wonderful things I experienced this past summer:

1. Sugar-free popsicles on a hot and sweltering day in July. (I love the ones that look and taste like a roll of Life Savers on a stick. At 20 calories per popsicle this is also a guilt-free treat.)

2. Watching Geraldine McEwan as the latest reincarnation of Agatha Christie’s beloved character, Miss Jane Marple. (Thank goodness for PBS.)

3. Getting out once in a blue moon to a movie. (My favorite movie of the summer was “The Bourne Ultimatum.” The first two movies in this series were great and this third one was even better!)

4. Light. Quite literally. I love waking up to daylight. I love the designs made in our kitchen when sunlight pours through the solar-powered prisms hanging on the windows. I love looking outside at my flowers in the middle of the afternoon and perhaps catching a glimpse of a hummingbird. I love the light of evening --- what I think of as twilight. And I love moonlight as it streams in through our bedroom window.

5. And last, but far from least: Riding in the car with my husband. (I brainstormed my next book with him all the way to our son’s house. Not only did the time fly by, but it was fun.)

Now you know why the title of this blog popped into my head.

The summer of 2007 has come and gone. Now I, for one, intend to savor every minute of the fall.

So, Inquiring Minds want to know: What are some of your favorite things that you're looking forward to this autumn?

Cheers!
EG