This summer’s been really full. With a very full work schedule, Love Lettering Project-ing, and completing draft #3 of my manuscript (and gardening, pickling, picnicking and swimming thrown into the mix), it’s been a non-stop juggling act.

So when a dear friend floated the idea of a cottage, I jumped at the chance. Lake swimming, deck writing, canoe-ing (I can stern! Who knew?!), happy hour gin and tonic-ing, starry sky skinny dipping and late night s’mores completed this summer in ways I didn’t even know I needed.

And we’ve decided it’s a tradition now, though next summer, we’re gunning for weeks (yup, plural!).

We swim straight across the lake,
the sun green under the surface.

You are afraid of what’s underneath,
and close your eyes tight,
whereas I, don’t think about what I can’t see,
even though out of the two of us, I am far more fearful,

Though if you ask when I am
back on the semi-solid surface of the dock,
I will admit am terrified of drowning,
all of those lifeguarding classes
didn’t make me brave, or more confident
but only more certain of drowning.

I only believe though this when we’re lying on the too-bright towels
that smell of Bounce and damp,
and you are reminding me of how difficult beginnings can be.
Mid-lake, it’s just arms and hands pulling through the green,
the sound of breath in my ears,
the water falling back on itself,
and echoing against the shoreline.

I have this friend Christa.

She is the master of finding the most hilarious nuggets this side of the internet, knows exactly how to make a homesick Torontonian at home on the West Coast, sings songs about Dirty Dancing’s Jennifer Grey and makes homemade Christmas ornaments every single year.

(Oh, and she also knits Star Trek inspired dish cloths…awesome, I know!)

Christa also knows exactly how to kick my ass into finding perspective. From the most trivial, to the most heart-breaking situations, she offers a hilarious “Ne panic pas.”

Ne panic pas: “It’s like a Disney-free hakuna matata for a Canadian audience. A “don’t worry be happy” with the beauty of Bobby but sans commercialism and Cocktail soundtrack. Sweet, simple, and funny, non?” she writes…

Read more about “Ne panic pas” here, in Christa’s own brilliant, hilarious words…

Three cheers for “the magnificence of the dots we connect over the years.”

ps: there are also hilarious photos of her and I and the incredible Susan Kendal circa 2000 in a Value Village ugly-outfit competition taken just minutes after Christa and I met. Ha!

Fact, I love summer. Fact #2, I love Toronto. Fact #3: I love summers in Toronto.

This summer’s highlights include:

* Swimming down at Sunnyside Pool nearly every day (and I’ve got the crazy tan lines to prove it!)

* Picnicking up a storm in Trinity Bellwoods Park

* All of the Love Lettering Project love

* BBQs on my back deck (complete with a shooting star spotting!)

* Hearing the beautiful fairy-like tinkling of bike bells while 400+ cyclists head out to check out art with ArtSpin

* Watching the stunning lightning storm in August

* Bike posts turned into flower-based street art (um, AWESOME!)

* Oh-so-much brunch

* Biking along the Lakeshore from the very west end to the very east end at least three times a week

* Eating sun-warm tomatoes from my garden

* Making pickles out of cukes from my garden

* Working on my piece for The Paper Place‘s 6×8 exhibit

* The outpouring of love and support and public grieving of Jack Layton. So heart-breaking to say farewell to such a dynamic leader, but the huge amounts of love for him was inspiring