Lighting a fire under summer

My cousin Bryan and two of his friends celebrated their birthdays and Memorial Day with quite the bonfire Sunday evening. Can you guess which one is my cousin?

Actually, I'm blaming my cousin Bryan for this. His way of celebrating Memorial Day included the 11th largest fire I've ever seen. (Keep in mind, I grew up helping burn swaths of switch grass and we've also been known to have brush pile burnings on our acreage. What I'm saying is this fire was impressive, as you can see from the photo.)

I won't say what was being burned, but there was a member of the Sierra Club standing by, so you can be assured that everything was legit. (If not, maybe that's why they call it "global warming"?)

Either way, the tactic worked.

Bonfires and summer just go together.

That ranks right up there on my list of things to do, especially if it accompanies camping.

It's funny because I grew up camping in a camper, but I feel like I was kind of robbed of the "roughing it" experience back then. Now, I'd prefer to tent or even sleep under the stars. (Though I'm sure that will change as I get older and my back and joints get achier.)

Speaking of stars, what's better than stargazing? Whether they're "falling" or not, there's not much better than throwing down a quilt on a hill and/or secluded area and checking out what's going on in the heavens?

So, those are a few of my favorite (summer) things. Of course, barbecuing and enjoying the Lakes are high on the list. Actually, I don't think I have rankings.

Summer is great.

What's the greatest thing about it or the greatest thing to do during it?