What strenuous outdoor activity should you do during a heat wave? We recommend taking a steep steep wander up Mount Royal through the woods. Not pictured: The cell phone tower at the peak. Not so scenic.

It’s the best time of year to be living in this town. Case in point: tasty treats, fun festivals, beautiful sunsets. More summer, please! (And the heatwave is not so bad, from up here near the mountain.)

lodi, for those of you who have never heard of it before, is a magical little town in the finger lakes region of New York State. It’s also the unofficial official summer home of my friend Jennifer and her family, so opportunities to visit and get out of the hustle bustle of the city abound!

I visited Lodi a few weekends ago for a much needed summer break – a two day holiday away from the chaos that had become my june / july life (that’s a series of stories for another time).

Living in Montreal you get used to the noises of the city, but in Lodi, once the sun goes down, there are only fireflies, the birds, and amish horse and buggy carts going by, with their resonant clomp-clomps of horse hooves and the rumble of handmade buggy wheels on the gravel shoulder of the road.

We had dinner on the lawn (and it was delicious!).

Ice cream to follow a trip to the ithaca farmer’s market (and a trip to Target!).

Fancy G&Ts.

The barn at the lodi house. I’m addicted to barn stars.

We picked mulberries from the tree in the driveway. YUM.

I’m already looking forward to going back again next month. Yay for road trips!