Summer

1. The usually warmest season of the year, occurring between spring and autumn and constituting June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere ...
2. A period of fruition, fulfillment, happiness, or beauty.
-- The Free Dictionary

Scientists will tell you that summer runs from the summer solstice until the autumnal equinox. Kids will tell you that it runs from the last day of school ‘til the first day of school. Mark Twain observed that the coldest winter he ever spent was the summer he spent in San Francisco, and Henry James said, “Summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

Whenever summer is to you, we hope you will choose to spend it in line with Definition #2: “a period of fruition, fulfillment, happiness and beauty.” We’re here to help, but you’ve got to take the first step on your own.

Larry Ray will get you started with a challenge to go out to find your history. Larry says that you’ll find a fascinating piece of it only moments from your front door, and he’ll tell you how to find out more about Fort Heiman, on the banks of Kentucky Lake. If you’re a youngster, will show you more camps, workshops, clinics and classes than you could enjoy in a dozen summers. Paige Graves has compiled a list of camps, lessons, and recreational outings with the help of librarian Sandy Linn, City Parks’ Tab Brockman, and dozens of folks who responded to our request for suggestions. Don’t tell them there’s nothing to do this summer!

Aviva Yasgur will show you best fisherman you ever met: the Osprey. If you want to see the airborne angler at work, you’ll have to get outside. While you’re roaming the shores looking for birds, you might as well throw in a line and try to find a fish yourself, and Caina Lynch will detail what to do with fish and frying pan before you sit down to dinner.

In this issue, we’re going to provide you plenty of reasons to get out there before Autumn chases you in next to the fire. Megan Tubbs will give you a guided tour of Evansville, Indiana, and confirm once again that Murray is in the center of everything. Bec Feldhaus returns to our pages with a story of people who are getting a jump on life in the Racer Academy, and there’s much, much more.

Of course, our dining guide and calendar of events will keep your days full of friends and fun. We’ve got humor for families on vacation, trivia for outdoors lovers and fans of Kentucky lake, news tidbits we thought you might have missed and, as usual, more.

We hope you will learn something, recall something, or just enjoy a helpful hint or a silly story. It’s summertime, and we’re happy to share it with you. So, find a shady place, sit back, turn a page, and write another chapter in your own Murray Life.