Summer’s over and I have regrets. As I always do when I realize another season has passed that I didn’t take advantage of. And after each one is gone, I tell myself that I will write a list of everything I wished I’d done so that next year I won’t be such a slacker.

This is my list for Summer:

Pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries

Buy fruits and vegetables from local farm stands and actually eat them

Rollerblade on the Norwuttuck Rail Trail every weekend

Visit the beach at least four times or, hell, even spend a week there to write my island murder mystery

Read more Ameila Peabody mysteries

Run in Stanley Park

Bake breads, cakes, cookies, and pies with the flavors of the season

Vacation in New Orleans to drink washing machine strawberry daiquiris, visit cities of the dead, bayous, and plantation homes while working on my psuedo-vampire novel (no, they’re not all the fluffy bunny sparkly sensitive types), and with any luck take in a Roller Derby game.

Sit on my flower-laden balcony on weekend mornings sipping hot chocolate eating freshly baked strawberry almond bread and enjoying the quiet of the morning while pretending I’m eating beignets

Sit on my balcony in the evenings sipping iced tea and eating cool lemon cookies with powdered sugar

Walk to the park to watch the city’s 4th of July fireworks

Get drunk off Watermelon-Lime Coolers and Raspberry Spritzers

Clean my house more

I think this is a good start for now. Luckily, New England has four somewhat distinct seasons, so there’s always something different to do every three months.

Maybe I should start working on my Autumn list now.