Sometime summer seems endless, but we know too well that it isn’t so. But what DO you do (especially if you’ve got kids!)? On a hot day… a rainy day… or just any day? There are simple things to do, and they’re not too far away.

*Play miniature golf. It’s an American tradition, and no two courses are alike! Windmills, spouts, and bridges abound, not to mention crazy slopes, and it’s all in fun, and if you don’t take it too seriously, everybody has a good time. The course at Harris Hill Amusement Park has entertained players for many years – there are also courses at Corning, Watkins Glen, and Ithaca Sciencenter.
*Visit the comic-book store. I personally patronize Heroes Your Mom Threw Out in Elmira Heights, where Jared Aiosa loves kids as well as grownups. (And yes, at his shop I HAVE found comics that my Mom threw out!)
*Attend a summer service at Garret Memorial Chapel, on Keuka Bluff. It’s a lovely stone chapel, built almost a hundred years ago in memory of an only son who died too young. It’s a quiet place, set in the woods, with services only in summers. You may find that you’re growing quiet too, in the best sense of the word.
*Amble along the Erie Canal. Fairport is known as “the crown jewel of the Erie Canal” – the towpath is a fine place to stroll, with restaurants and other amenities on the route or just a few steps away. The same is true in Pittsford, and many another canal town. For a quieter, more rural stretch, start in Brockport. Check ’em all out. Now two centuries old, the Canal still welcomes visitors. Nathaniel Hawthorne liked it! Why shouldn’t you?
*Shop at The Windmill, on 14A between Penn Yan and Dundee: Saturdays only, April through November, with an occasional added day for holidays. Wander in and out amongst 175 shops and stands – it’s one of the largest open-air farm and craft markets in the state of New York.
*Get an ice cream! It just isn’t summer if you don’t make at least one stop at an ice cream stand. I use Emmie’s near Lake Salubria in Bath! And also Hokey-Pokey on Corning Northside. Honestly, there’s ice cream stands just about everywhere, and I’ve never found one that disappointed me. The closing of the ice cream stands is a sure sad sign of the end of summer. Get into the season while the getting’s good!
*Get a hot dog, and eat it “al fresco.” Central Hots in Elmira is a good place. Jim’s Texas Hots is a good place on Market Street in Corning.
*Take a walk on the waterfront. Watkins Glen in particular gives you lots of waterline to stroll on, lots of boats to look at, lots of birds to watch. You can also see the schooner True Love (used in the movie High Society, with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly).
*Listen to a concert in the park. Wow! LOTS of our communities have free evening concerts every week through the summer – I know for a fact you can find them in Bath, Hammondsport, Penn Yan, Watkins Glen… plenty of others too! Sometimes there’s a sort of ongoing theme, more likely there’s a different “sound” every week, from rock-and-roll to folk to country to “band music.” Somebody makes fried chicken, somebody sells lemonade, little kids run in and out… pick out the music you like, bring your lawn chair, chat with your friends, and enjoy the summer’s eve. Maybe stars will come out. Maybe you’ll see fireflies. “Just a song at twilight, when the lights are low, and the flickering shadows softly come and go; though the heart be weary, sad the day and long, still to us at twilight comes Love’s old song – comes Love’s old, sweet song.”