Summer here is hot and dry, but it's so short that sometimes it feels more like a coffee break in an endless winter than a real season. People who live in the prairies know that each summer day has to be savoured - tucked away as a little memory for that day in February when you're standing outside waiting for a bus that's ten minutes late, and you think that you just can't bear another minute of winter.

Unfortunately work, weather, and a wedding have conspired against my usual trips to the beach this summer, but today I was determined to make the most of the sun. I skipped out of work half an hour early and drove to the nearest beach with my family. We ate dinner on the beach and then jumped in the water, where I stayed until I started shivering. Then I retired to a towel on the beach and picked up - what else? An Archie comic, from a stack my little sister had brought.

Summer has always meant comic books to me.

Lying head-to-toe in a hammock with one of my sisters as each of us reads a comic, stretching out at my best friend's cabin after a long day at the beach and perusing her collection of Archies, buying a big box of mystery comics to haul out to the lake…there's just something about a summer day and a comic book that jells. It's partly logical, I suppose. Cheap comic books can be tossed about on the beach without too much concern, and the light, simple stories can be left at moment's notice if a summertime adventure should suddenly arise. But more than that, comics just seem to be inherently a part of summer to me.

Are comic books part of your summer experience? What are those other little things that summer just feels incomplete without?

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DD AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT

From Niccea:
We still have 4 slots to fill for presenters for the awards. But, worse, many of the judging categories have “TBA” as the name of the judges. TBA is not an drunk ducker, it is a place holder. We still need many slots to be taken up to allow the for the awards to continue for this year.

Current judges/presenters, please check your PQs for your assignments.

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For more info on News, please check out this DD Help Site article: https://sites.google.com/site/theduckhelp/getting-started/news-and-getting-your-news-in-it