Lemonade Season

Image via That's My Letter

Jaime over at That's My Letter recently shared how she made this lovely lemonade sign, above, for her Etsy shop. It's an easy to follow tutorial and the sign really is a cutie.

It got me thinking back to when my Zippy was a kid (more of a kid than she is now- growing up so quickly). We talked every summer about having a Sunflower and Lemonade stand. We planned to grow all sorts of varieties of sunflowers and when they were ready, we would sell them right out of the garden. Picked fresh while you wait. Organic. Surprise the wife. Treat Yourself. We had lots of marketing pitches.

1. Sunflower, 2. Sunflower with bee, 3. sunflower, 4. Sunflower / Helianthus / 向日葵(ひまわり), 5. Sunflower, 6. Sunflower, 7. Sunflower, 8. Sunflowers, 9. Sunflower

Oh and while you wait, because it would be late summer and hotter than blue blazes, why not have some ice cold lemonade? We researched a nice variety of flavored lemonades for our daily specials and how to keep the ice frozen, how to shade our stand, when to be "open" based upon how many cars drove by at different times of the day (we counted), etc etc. I even sketched plans for the signs.

If you paint the sign and then add glitter to the glass, wouldn't that look cold and frosty as all those hot people drove past? OK, yes, I got carried away with the whole idea.

But then Zippy came wandering in one day with a board and asked if she could borrow some paint supplies. Just an aside, we have many items around our yard that have been painted over the years, her swingset having become a landmark on our road. "If you get to the house with the painted swingset you've gone too far. Turn around in their driveway." (Arghh, don't turn around in people's driveways!!) She understands what not to paint (cars, house, garage) and to clean up her supplies afterwards. So anyway, I didn't give her request much more thought until I went out to check on her for lunch and found her lemonade stand sign in the grass under the big maple tree.

Way better than my signs.

We never did get the Sunflower and Lemonade Stand act going, mainly because we were often at the beach the week the sunflowers were at their best. But I do have some great art for my kitchen.

I mentioned that it looks kind of like outsider art. And, with all the logic and straight-forward common sense my then 7 year was blessed with she said...

"Well I did paint it outside."

If you pass a lemonade stand this summer, manned by tiny little budding entrepreneurs, you better go ahead and stop. Have a cold one for me.

Thanks so visiting today-- I'll see ya next time.