Deer Me!

Summer's in full swing here, friends. Pajama mornings, summer reading program, late night card games. The whole lot of it. Unfortunately, not much sun yet but there will be many lazy pool days, beach trips and warm sunshine ahead. Meanwhile, the gloom and chill (is not reminding us of British summers. It is NOT.) gives us an excuse to start our days even slower and really ease into the summer.

We need that because our bedtimes are later than ever. Mostly because our early and mid-evenings have been consumed by our new ritual of going on a Deer Safari. This is when we walk, bike or drive (windows down, speaking in hushed tones) very slowly through the neighborhood trying to spot deer.

We've seen the sweetest teeniest baby deer, a record of five in one night, and a deer basically jumping on hind legs to reach what must be delicious leaves. It is a hoot. I'm telling you, wherever we go, we settle in. I did not see Deer Safari in my future at any point when traipsing along Oxford Street.

Inspired by our high volume sightings last night, today found us buying deer feed and something called "attractant" to lure them into our own yard en masse. Ideally we can host a living room safari watching party. Or even better, enjoy a quiet dinner on the sunporch with fluffy-tailed friends nearby. You should hope so, too as we might be able to get some closeup snaps!

This might be the world's fuzziest long distance amateur shot taken from a moving vehicle -- but please zoom in on it. If you really squint at the tan tall thing in the middle of the frame, you just might make out a silly Nashville deer pretending to be a giraffe.

These are the days we'll remember. I love summer!

PS: Tonight's safari has been postponed as we'll be watching yet another Blackhawks game. Watch there be an entire herd in the backyard while we're glued to the tube. Either that our we'll wake up to the neighborhood's fattest squirrels sleeping it off in our yard.