By Golly, Ollie!

This morning was a get-up-and-go kind of morning. A who-has-time-to-let-the-coffee-brew kind of morning. A it’s-too-hot-for-coffee-anyway kind of morning. So I grabbed my Harry Potter travel mug, brewed myself some iced English Breakfast tea from Pique Tea (in a matter of seconds, mind you), selected a summertime read, and set out to find the perfect reading spot.

One of the best things about living next to a school (aside from getting to hear the marching band practice when Autumn falls upon us, which makes my heart swell with nostalgia) is the abundance of perfect summertime reading spots. Especially the school I live next to since it’s a cluster of schools– an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school– with a sprawling campus with walking paths, athletic fields, and benches galore.

Also, it has swing sets, which admittedly was my first stop.

After meandering past locked-up baseball diamonds, the running track with early morning ramblers, and the tennis courts with old men hollering after renegade, fluorescent yellow tennis balls, I finally found my perfect summer reading spot– a yellow bench near a mostly abandoned soccer field, save for a few fat, bumbling bees in a sea of sweet, red clovers.

I unfortunately grossly underestimated the intensity of the 8:00 morning sun though. I knew today was going to be a scorcher by Michigan standards (90 degrees with just a few cotton ball clouds in the sky), but I didn’t expect a blazing sun so early. Needless to say, my tea didn’t even last until the end of the first short story in Summer Days and Summer Nights. Next time I’ll be more prepared; I’ll bring along an extra bottle of water and extra sachets of Pique Tea crystals (and then, with a few shakes of my travel mug, I can pretty much brew myself refreshing tea anywhere).