September Summer: Ways to Use the Days
And the Sunday Seven: a movie, a cat, a cocktail, a slug ...
Fall is beautiful here in Buffalo. But why jump the gun? The leaves aren’t even changing yet. Well, a few here and there, but not many.
Summer’s lease may have all too short a date, however the lease is not up yet. Summer still has a few hazy, lazy, crazy days left to give. Maybe many more than we think. We will have plenty of time to enjoy sweater weather. Let’s not rush it.
With that in mind, I worked up a list of summer pleasures worth chasing before the leaves start to fall.
Fire up the grill just because you can — pork chops, corn, peaches, whatever’s handy. Being the one person who waited until September to learn grilling, I am sure doing this these days. See below for a pork chop recipe that’s easy and fun.
Impose on a friend with a pool and take an evening swim.
Linger on the porch with a cocktail until the cicadas stop singing.
Grab a paperback and read outdoors, the way you swore you would back in June.
Wander somewhere green: a wildflower field, a park, even your own backyard. See the Sunday Seven, below, for a go-to garden.
Fire up the ice cream machine and make ice cream. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, go find one at Savers. As Mark Bittman writes in “How to Cook Everything,” ice cream makers are easy to find second hand because “someone is always giving up on the idea.”
Put up more twinkle lights.
A box of fancy tea lights may be had at Wegman’s or Tops for a couple bucks. Put a few on the table or on the porch and you feel as if you’re on vacation.
Watch the sunset with no phone, no rush — just let it drop.
Make lemonade (real lemons, none of that mix) and sip it slowly.
Ride your bike someplace you don’t usually go — even just around the block.
Pick wildflowers and stick them in an old jar on the kitchen table.
Eat outside — breakfast, lunch, doesn’t matter. Everything tastes better al fresco.
Take a boat ride. The Moondance Catamaran typically runs into October. It’s great this boat goes by the weather, you know? So many things in Buffalo shut down on Labor Day.
Put your feet in a kiddie pool or fountain like you’re ten again.
Play your favorite summer song with the windows down. Extra points if it’s Schubert, Gershwin, or Duke Ellington. “A Schubert song with a Gershwin touch…” I love that line from Duke Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss.”
Take a twilight walk and admire people’s creative porch lights.
Enjoy a Personal Watermelon. I loved when Tops started calling them that.
Fall asleep with the window open.
The Sunday Seven
Go-To Garden
Can’t grow a garden yourself? Learn where the nice gardens are, and go there. This week, I saw the most charming field of wildflowers at the newly re-opened Wilkeson Pointe on the Outer Harbor. Purple, lavender, and yellow flowers are growing in a ditch near the gazebo. It’s not exactly a ditch, there’s a technical name for it, but whatever it is, I just love them.
Yummy Seltzer Flavor
Just because it’s the middle of September doesn’t mean we can’t keep trying new seltzer flavors! Recommended: Wegman’s Orange Pineapple. They were out of Peach, which we went looking for, so we grabbed the O.P., and it’s great. It tastes like pineapple juice, which I love but can’t drink because of my, ahem, low-carb lifestyle.
When I was little my dad loved quoting W.C. Fields: “Bring me my pineapple juice.”
Cocktail: The Outer Harbor Fizz
I asked ChatGPT, aka Hep Cat, for a cocktail that could be made with that fine Orange Pineapple seltzer. His response didn’t disappoint.
Ahhh, dig it — Wegman’s Orange Pineapple Seltzer is already halfway to a tiki bar, Daddy-O. Let’s build a late-summer cocktail around it:
🌴 The Outer Harbor Fizz
2 oz white rum (or vodka if you want it cleaner)
½ oz lime juice (fresh squeezed, hep cat, none of that plastic green bottle stuff)
½ oz triple sec (or Cointreau, if you’re swinging top shelf)
Top with Wegman’s Orange Pineapple Seltzer
Garnish with a wedge of orange or a pineapple spear
It comes out crisp, citrusy, with that tropical undernote — but light enough for Sunday sipping.
Chat told me I could use 2 oz orange vodka and leave out the triple sec if I wanted to limit the carbs.
Recipe: Backyard Bebop Pork Chops
I am continuing to teach myself charcoal grilling — read about this adventure here — and I have a pork loin waiting to be dealt with. I asked the Cool Cat for advice on this too. Take it, Cool Cat:
Nothing says end-of-summer like smoke curling up from the grill. Since you’re working with pork chops cut from a loin, let’s keep it backyard-simple:
🔥 Backyard Bebop Pork Chops
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp brown sugar (optional — caramelizes nice, but you can skip for low-carb)
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
Pinch of cayenne (if you dig a little kick)
👉 Brush chops lightly with olive oil, rub both sides, let ‘em sit 15–30 minutes while the coals settle. Grill over medium-hot charcoal, 4–5 minutes a side, depending on thickness.
No fuss marinade, no overnight wait — just smoky, savory, ready by the time the ice melts in your Outer Harbor Fizz.
Movie: ‘Private Number’
Howard and I watched this a few days ago. It stars Loretta Young, who was friends with Leonard Pennario, the pianist I was friends with and wrote a book about. How about that, I am only one degree of separation from Loretta Young. The leading man is Robert Taylor.
What Howard and I loved most about this movie was the glimpse it gives you into how people lived way back when. The butler, acting as a kind of chief of staff, with all this power. If anyone watches this, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Wildlife of the Week
OK, slugs are not the sexiest creatures around, however there is nothing like whipping out your Seek nature app and seeing, “You sighted a new species!” With which, I rejoiced in my sighting of the Leopard Slug.
Cat of the Week
It has to be my friend Danielle Martin’s cat, Pumpkin, featured in the most recent Buzz column. It has been a joy to follow Danielle’s adventure from grief over losing her old cat to joy over adopting a new one. See photo gallery below.
And do not forget that if we are blessed to make it to heaven, our pets will be there. Everything needed for our happiness will be there.
I love old movies and find it a sacrilege when they're colorized. Ty for the Ending-Of-Summer list. I need to get outside more and disconnect from the world's turmoil.