Hunger sent us out with milk-cans, pea-tins, jam-pots where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots

I mentioned yesterday that I can't get summer off my mind, which is somewhat unusual for me because I'm not a fan of boiling hot temperatures and air so humid and dense you can hardly breathe. Nevertheless, I find myself daydreaming of long summer nights, sitting outside listening to insect chatter, sipping fruity drinks, and having nothing at all to do. Right now that sounds like heaven to me. Here are a few of my very favorite things about summer:

(Source: JC Richardson)

Fireflies (or lightning bugs, depending on your local vernacular).

(Source: sierramills)

Ice cream cones. Don't get me wrong, I eat ice cream year-round (even when it's freezing out), but there's something about summer that makes me crave it in a cone.

(Source: *Austin*)

Freckles, especially on shoulders and noses.

(Source: epicharmus)

Swimming pools. I'm not a particularly strong swimmer, but I've always loved hanging out in pools.

(Source: Kevin H)

Watching movies outside. This is a photo from Screen on the Green, which happens every summer on the mall in DC (you can sort of see the side of the Capitol building behind the screen). Usually, they show old classic films, though it looks like a cartoon here.

(Source: Doug Mahugh)

Fruity drinks, not necessarily alcoholic, just something sweet and citrusy and cold.

By the way, I am fully prepared to eat my words when it's 100 degrees outside and my apartment building is an inferno.

What do you love or hate about summer?

*Post title is from the poem, "Blackberry Picking" by Seamus Heaney.