Paradise is a Lake Ontario Microclimate

Hollyhocks

This long weekend, +Anna Wilson was down for a visit. So we decided to take our Saturday and go out to 'the County'. The entire goal was to go to the farmers' market. But once that was over and we had an iced tea break at a small cafe, the only thing we had left to do was pick up some peach cider.

And that's when it happened. Driving down those winding country roads, we started to see tiny signs advertising an Elvis impersonator show at one of the wineries.

And it was on our way. It just seemed like the thing to do on a perfectly sunny summer's day -- especially since it was free.

The concert was loud, and the audience consisted of -- as you can imagine -- aging boomers in fold-out camp chairs with build-in cup holders. So we passed all that and took to the winery's dock. And sitting out on the end of that dock with our feet in the water -- it hit me. It was the first time this summer that I've actually felt like it was summer. 'Elvis' sang Hound Dog as the jet skiers across the bay from us stopped and danced on their tiny craft to the song. There were clouds -- but they streaked the sky in white lines.

Once we crossed the road to visit the winery's animals: pigs, goats, sheep, bunnies, ducks and chicken; we made our way to the cider place. On the way, I began to see these wild flowers that grew up by the road that I couldn't identify. "What, have we stumbled into paradise?" I asked, since I've actually never seen such beautiful roadside wildflowers before. When we got back home I had to look them up: Hollyhocks. Related to hibiscus, so there's the paradise connection.

I haven't had such a happy day in a very long time. And then of course there was the music. For some reason, the radio was cooperating with us, only playing summer-happiness songs. And so in honour of the memory of that day, I've put together a perfect summer's day playlist consisting of highlights of the songs we heard. I'm sure that I'm missing some, but +Anna Wilson can help me out with that. For now, here is the rough-up: