All Summer Long

Here comes the summer! Are summers a distinct stretch of the year for you? What's this one got in store?

by Paul D. Marks

Every now and then we hear our song,

We've been having fun all summer long.

—All Summer Long by Brian Wilson & Mike Love

—Performed by the Beach Boys

When I was younger summer was more of a distinct time for me. We’d load up the Woody—okay so it wasn’t a classic Woody, but it was a station wagon with fake wood sides—and go on a Surfin’ Safari,  Surfin’ USA, from “…Del Mar, Ventura County line, Santa Cruz and Trestle, Australia's Narrabeen, All over Manhattan, And down Doheny Way, inside, outside, USA,”* just to Catch a Wave. And I’ve got some great stories, especially about Doheny, but they’re probably for another time.

As California boys we’d be on the lookout for California Girls—“I wish they all could be California girls.”* And I met a Surfer Girl under The Warmth of the Sun at the beach one time and that turned into a three year or so relationship. Do You Wanna Dance, I asked her. And we did, Dance, Dance, Dance. But when I took her In My Room my parents walked in—the less said about that the better… I guess you could say we were Shut Down. Don’t Worry Baby, I told her, but that was the end of our Fun, Fun, Fun…at least for a time. I don’t know if there really were any Heroes and Villains then, but ultimately I grew up and then there were Good Vibrations.

We definitely had fun All Summer Long. But eventually, we went our separate ways and she told me to just Sail On, Sailor. Which I did.

But Wouldn’t It Be Nice if we could relive some of those youthful, exuberant and nostalgic times? I just wish I had more pix of them and could find the ones I do have—in a box somewhere.

***

But that was then and this is now:

Those carefree summers are gone with the wind. These days summer is more like Raymond Chandler’s Red Wind than the Beach Boys:

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Ana's that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.” —Red Wind by Raymond Chandler.

Speaking of carving knives and the like, as I’m writing this the Sunday before it’s due up, a news story broke about a place called Neptune’s Net. A beachy dive on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. A hang for bikers and surfers and others, if you dare. A place I love and have been to a lot. A place I took Amy when we met and since. And even a place I took my dad, who’s very opinionated about food, but who likes clam chowder and amazingly liked this place. So this story about a knifing there really bums me: https://www.malibusurfsidenews.com/p/news-police-fire/la-puente-man-dies-after-stabbing-neptune%E2%80%99s-net-parking-lot 

I even wrote about it in my novel Vortex:

Jess and I sped north on PCH, hoping Bryan and Carlos would assume we were going to be heading north all the way. We ripped past Zuma, flying up the coast. Turned into Neptune’s Net, a seafood dive favored by bikers, surfers and tourists. I didn’t think we quite fit any of those categories. The Mustang was camouflaged in the parking lot among all the other cars. We watched Bryan’s red Camaro zip past Neptune’s. We waited two or three minutes, then pulled out of the lot, cutting across traffic, turning left on PCH. Heading south now and lucky no ChiPs were there to light us up. Hopefully Bryan and Carlos were still heading north, thinking they’d catch up to us sooner or later.

But back to the question:

Aside from the weather, of course, these days summer is largely the same for me as any other season, killing people, mystery, noir, the thrills and chills of writing. I wish there were more chills. It gets hot here. And since I work at home there’s not much difference in terms of my daily routines. I walk the dogs. I do some social media. Might do some stuff around the house. And, if I’m lucky, maybe I’ll even get some writing in.

And, depending on how hot it is, the AC goes on, though I’d always prefer fresh air. But if I had my druthers—if I could ever figure out what druthers are—I’d prefer ocean air.

We’ve done a bit of traveling lately so I don’t think there’s much travel on the sked, except for Amy’s family reunion. It’s been a rough year or so for her as she lost both her parents, so maybe we can recuperate a little this summer. I think we started doing that with our anniversary this month. Also, one of our dogs is getting older and that’s starting to concern us, so I think we want to spend as much time with her as possible.

The thing we do worry about here in summer is fire . We live in a “wilderness” area, at least we pay an extra tax for fire services because of that. And we’ve had to evacuate two or three times and came close another couple of times. Let me tell you, it’s no fun. Rounding up the dogs wasn’t a problem, but you try rounding up two cats while sirens are screaming up and down the canyon.

The flames licking the hill across the canyon road.

The funny thing is the one time we actually saw flames on the hill next to us we didn’t have to evacuate. But we did during the Station Fire, which was huge. It turned the whole sky orange.

Anyway, these days as a writer I like a certain amount of consistency. Maybe it's not for everyone but that’s how I roll. So I like my routine for the most part and try to get as much done as possible. Those days of surfing, sailing and diving are mostly in the past now. But it’s nice to revisit them sometimes.
How ’bout you? What’s your summer shaping up like? Or should I say, what’re you doing All Summer Long?

*Surfin’ USA by Brian Wilson and Chuck Berry
*California Girls by Brian Wilson and Mike Love

~.~.~

And now for the usual BSP:

My story Past is Prologue is out in the new July/August issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Available now at bookstores and newstands as well as online at: https://www.alfredhitchcockmysterymagazine.com/. Hope you'll check it out.

Please join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/paul.d.marks and check out my website  www.PaulDMarks.com

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In the summertime... by Cathy Ace

Life: Here comes the summer! Are summers a distinct stretch of the year for you? What's this one got in store?

Summer? Love it! Normally it’s the time when, as a gardener, I get to enjoy the fruits of my labours – visually speaking – by sitting on the back deck, writing, and enjoying the view, or sitting indoors at my desk – looking out to enjoy the view. 

Where I write in the summer (taken July 2018)

 This year I’ll have to wait a while to indulge in those particular delights, because I’ll be away for three weeks in July, so my “summer schedule” won’t get started until the end of that month. 

But…living in the Pacific Northwest our summers are supposed to be temperate, not scorchers. The past few years, however, have been searingly hot, with almost no rain – not good when you live in the middle of a rainforest and all your water comes from a well, not the city. No rain means the evergreen trees we’re surrounded by suffer and, essentially, become ominous pillars of kindling; the ornamental trees, and other garden plants we’ve grown from cuttings or seeds, which thrive in sunny and damp vs baking and dry conditions, need extra care and attention; the water we rely upon from our well dries up and we have to get it brought in by tanker. 

Some of the ornamental trees we've planted, with the natural evergreens behind them - as you can see, it gets dry here

 

It’s not good when you’re entire life is set up for a climate that no longer exists – but we’re keenly aware that we have it better than many…we've never (yet!) suffered a forest or grass fire, flooding, or drought situations that cannot be alleviated by phoning to order a delivery of potable water (which we have pumped into holding tanks above ground, which then gravity-feed into our well, FYI). 

A delivery of water - they fill our tanks from their tanker!

So the idyll isn’t quite as idyllic as it used to be when weather patterns were more “normal”. But the principle is the same. Generally speaking I’d live outdoors all the time, if I could. Since we have a dog, there’s usually a door open all the time when it’s not freezing or snowing…I like being cold and bundled up – quite often there’s no heating on in the house until about 4pm even in the depths of winter. 

Recently added honeysuckle...taken June 2019

So the summer allows me to have all the doors and windows open, or to be out on the deck…or tending to the five acres which need all that attention. JOY! 

Now for the Blatant Self Promotion - as you enjoy YOUR summer, why not try one of my books? You can find out more about me, and them, by clicking here. 

Summer's Almost Gone

Summer's almost done! How did you spend your summer vacation? Or did you even take one?

by Paul D. Marks


What I’d like to do here is quote from Casablanca, where Rick (Bogart) is talking to his former girlfriend, Yvonne (Madeleine Lebeau):

Yvonne: Where were you last night?Rick: That's so long ago, I don't remember.
Yvonne: Will I see you tonight?
Rick: I never make plans that far ahead. ₸

And even though summer’s not really over, whatever happened already seems so long ago that I barely remember it. And what I do remember, well, I hope this won’t be too much of a downer:

A few weeks ago we almost got evacuated—again (this was our 3rd close call, and we’ve actually had to leave twice) because of one of So Cal’s ubiquitous fires. Luckily it didn’t come to that this time. I think we were just on the border of the mandatory evac area. That didn’t stop it from being a very tense few days. I work at home and Amy stayed home from work in case we did have to get out. Watching a traffic jam of horse trailers removing horses from our area really brought home how close it was.

No sooner did that situation settle down than my dad fell and ended up in the ER. While there they discovered that he had a heart valve that needed replacing. After 17 days in the hospital he’s back home recuperating slowly in a sort of two-steps-forward-one-step back routine. Though lately it seems more like five steps back.

On the good news front, Amy got to go home to see her family. But I stayed here to tend to business and take care of the critters. So, I didn’t go anywhere this summer, which is fine with me. Mostly, I got to hang with the dogs and Amy (not putting them all in the same category ;) ). And get some writing done (not enough—it’s never enough!).

From Amy's vacation

And there were some good things on the writing front. I sold my first story to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and got the news that Ghosts of Bunker Hill will be in the December issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, the last issue of Ellery Queen’s 75th year anniversary celebration. And both of those are reason for celebration in our house!

But summers aren’t like the summers when I was a kid when all you had to do was head down the California Incline to the beach. No worries. No bills to pay. No appointments to keep or places to be. Not much Responsibility with a capital R. Just Sun, Sea, Sand and Surfer Girls. In fact, I met my first real girlfriend at the beach on one of those lazy summer days. A California Girl on a California Beach. Like the Beach Boys sang in Surfer Girl:

We could ride the surf together
While our love would grow
In my Woody I would take you everywhere I go*

California Incline

All I needed was a Woody, which I never managed to get – and when I met her I wasn’t quite old enough to drive yet. Though at one point I did have a Ford station wagon with fake wood on the side. Does that count?

And now that summer’s almost gone, a few lines about that from the Doors:

Summer's almost gone 
Summer's almost gone 
Almost gone 
Yeah, it's almost gone 
Where will we be 
When the summer's gone?**

Where will we be when summer’s gone? Well, we were supposed to be at Bouchercon in New Orleans. Unfortunately due to the usual circumstances beyond our control it looks like we’re going to have to bow out of that, which is a major bummer!

So maybe next summer will be better but for now I’m looking forward to autumn and winter, such as it is in SoCal. And maybe we’ll get enough rain to fill the creek again. Now that would be something!

***

Check out my story Deserted Cities of the Heart in the recently released St. Louis Noir.

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₸ Written by: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, Murray Burnett, Joan Alison, Casey Robinson

* “Surfer Girl,” written by Brian Wilson. Performed by the Beach Boys.

** “Summer’s Almost Gone,” written by Jim Morrison. Performed by the Doors.