SUMMER-SUMMER-SUMMERTIME...

♫ SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME... TIME TO SIT BACK AND UNWIND ♫ 

"Here it is the groove slightly transformed

Just a bit of a break from the norm

Just a little somethin' to break the monotony

Of all that hardcore dance that has gotten to be"

"And think of the summers of the past

Adjust the base and let the alpine blast

Pop in my cd and let me run a rhyme

And put your car on cruise and lay back cause this is summertime..."

♫ SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME... TIME TO SIT BACK AND UNWIND ♫ 

"School is out and it's sort of a buzz

A back then I didn't really know what it was

But now I see what have of this

The way that people respond to summer madness"

"The weather is hot and girls are dressing less

And checking out the fellas to tell 'em who's best

Riding around in your jeep or your benzos

Or in your nissan sitting on lorenzos"

♫ SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME... TIME TO SIT BACK AND UNWIND ♫ 

"The temperature's about 88

Hop in the water plug just for old times sake

Break to ya crib change your clothes one more

Cause you're invited to a Bar-b-que that's starting at 4"

"Sitting with your friends cause ya'll reminisce

About the days growing up and the first person you kiss

And as I think back makes me wonder how

The smell from a grill could spark up nostalgia"

"All the kids playing out front

Little boys messin round with the girls playing double-dutch

While the DJ's spinning a tune as the old folks dance at your family reunion"

♫ SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME... TIME TO SIT BACK AND UNWIND ♫ 

"Then six o'clock rolls around

You just finished wiping your car down

It's time to cruise so you head to the summertime hangout"

"It looks like a car show

Everybody come looking real fine

Fresh from the barber shop or fly from the beauty salon"

"Every moment frontin and maxin

Chillin in the car they spent all day waxin

Leanin to the side but you can't spread through

Two miles an hour so everybody sees you"

"There's an air of love and of happiness

And this is the fresh prince's new definition of summer madness..."

♫ SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME... TIME TO SIT BACK AND UNWIND ♫ 

NOW YOU'VE READ THE LYRICS, WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW AND LISTEN TO THE SONG!

Summertime by Will Smith has always been one of my favourite songs to listen to in the hot months. I remember when it came out in the 80's.... I've liked it since then. Hip-Hop back then was so innocent compared to now... it's a great song --it's a happy song!

Going through these pictures for this post made me happy also. All of them were taken by me and all of them are taken at the Gulf Coast in Alabama. There's a memory tied to each photo: This is where my youngest learned to ride his bike for the first time without training wheels.... this is where me and my girlfriends from high-school went on a girls trip and spent time together for the first time in almost 20 years... this is where I went parasailing for the first time, and my girlfriend who was up there with me was sick the entire time, next to me. Yes, that kind of sick.... this is where I took my son on his first ferris wheel ride, and after telling him how fun it is and "not to be scared", made them stop the ferris wheel in mid-action so I could get off because my stomach couldn't handle it.... this is where we lay on the balcony at night and look up at the Alabama star-filled sky... this is where the lightening storms on the ocean's horizon are stunning yet terrifying.... this is where my boys tried alligator for the first time and went on their first deep sea fishing expedition... this is where - on another girls trip- we were given moonshine by a neighbor and me and one friend were the only ones who didn't try it... this is where we do puzzles and play Bananagrams all day long... this is where I drink Corona Light with lime and listen to old classic rock and feel that all is right with the world...this is where I greet my guests in hula skirts and coconut tops and serve them drinks in faux-coconuts garnished with umbrellas - and it doesn't seem that crazy, or unusual...this is where 2 days in a row of "pajama day" is normal... this is when getting "dressed up" means maybe running a comb through your hair and making sure you have on some kind of shoes- having your teeth brushed is a bonus... this is summertime to me and this is relaxing.

I can only hope we are able to enjoy it this year. The oil has reached land and the towns reek of kerosene from the burn-off in the gulf. I know that local fishing captains have said that virtually every one of their reservations this summer has canceled. Our town is still trying to rebuild itself from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 (which was never acknowledged for being the destructive force it was -- it is credited with possibly causing the largest ocean wave ever recorded: 91 feet) and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Their economy suffered with the housing market crash, as the majority of the Alabama coast is vacation property, and now this: A loss of local jobs reliant on tourism and the soon to be loss of the jobs created by the many off-shore rigs there. This is a shrimping and tourism town, both of which will be non-existent. Mobile Bay brings in $1 billion in annual seafood revenue and in just four months Baldwin County (my county) brings in $1.7 billion in tourism revenues.... Seafood in Mobile Bay has stopped completely. That's already a loss of $1 billion and tourism has dropped 60% already.....Not to mention the obvious devastation: the loss of local bird and marine life. I can only hope and pray that the recovery doesn't take much longer. Nobody can afford that.  I'm off my soapbox -- no more "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey" from me.....Now to to listen to my Summertime Will Smith song again to get happy after thinking about this!