Summ-Summer Favorites

1) Chicory -- I love how that spindly, scraggly-looking weed defies the worst circumstances and blooms its perfect periwinkle all over tarnation this time of year.

2) Raspberries -- These under-sung fruits are more precious than rubies to me. They grew wild in my parents' back yard, and they taste like carefree childhood.

3) Bird songs -- Early morning and early evening are the loveliest parts of day in this season of heat and humidity: The temperature relents, and "all nature rings and 'round me sings, the music of the spheres."

4) Sweet corn -- It's better than candy (and I like candy a lot).

5) Clothesline -- I'm pretty positive that Heaven smells like sun-dried sheets.