Summertime Rolls

So, seeing how it is summer I have created a new play list. It is made up of songs that remind me of summer; for obvious reasons and for reasons which are personal.

The first song, "Summertime Rolls", is a song near and dear to my heart, and reminds me of one summer in particular. I lived in the apartment below my friend J, who first played the song for me that summer. It wasn't an apartment building, but a two story home which was split into two separate apartments. Which was good, because had it been an apartment building, we would not have gotten away with many of the shenanigans we pulled.

We would play the song loudly and run around my couch, around and around, with our two dogs, an Italian Greyhound, Marco and a Siberian Husky, Nicolai, chasing us around and around, as we yelled: "Dogs!" It was a summer of pink vomit (don't ask), parties, bands, juvenile delinquent house guests, and new beginnings which we didn't see coming. Or maybe we saw them coming, we just weren't ready for them.

It was the summer she was a mad pruning woman, pruning every tree or bush in site. I was in between relationships and didn't know which way was up. It was a summer of late nights, and early mornings and a whole lot of laughs, and more than enough tears. We thought of a "walk-up treat window" for dogs and cats, using my kitchen window, as it was level to the ground. We sang loudly into microphones plugged into amps, singing along to Sinead O Connor, Korn, or Blondie. We cracked up about the drunk man, yelling ignorant rants for the whole neighborhood to hear. We wrote on our foreheads and went out into public. We became fascinated with "Gummo" and she watched me closely, so I wouldn't self destruct.

I don't know how many times we said "Go home, Milo!" to the insane omni present American Eskimo dog, who lived at the end of our dead end street with his largely irresponsible owners. I would see that dog everywhere, I even saw him downtown once....but he always made it home. He chased my cat Spock on more than one occasion.

She would stick pictures of Barbara Streisand on my front door to annoy me and I stuck maxi pads on hers in retaliation. I crashed on her living room floor on occasion even though I lived right down stairs.

The song "Summertime Rolls" is my theme song for that summer, like a soundtrack. I like the lines "...orange butter cat chasing after, the crazy bee mad about somebody, oh no...". It reminded us of her cat Chester (who I liked to call "Chet")and the lines "....if you want a friend, feed any animal.." because its true and I was volunteering at the animal shelter. The line "...theres so much space I can cut me a piece with some fine wine, it brought peace to mind, and the summertime...it rolls", reminds me of laying in grass and looking at the sky, or living in an apartment all by myself for the first time in my life.

Here's hoping your summer is a good one, and full of memories, hoping it is a summer that rolls.