Summer means lots of opportunities for getting together with family – reunions, barbeques, vacations. Today’s small, simple-to-use cameras make it easy to capture the moments, big and small. Joel Sartore’s Photographing Your Family is a great place to find information not just on how to use your camera, but how to take great pictures.

One of the terrific things about this book is that Sartore has wonderful ideas for getting photos of the everyday events – a sleeping child, cookies being baked, time spent at the park or museum. Get in close, try different angles and work at capturing the personality of the person. Great photos are not stiff, formally posed portraits but the spontaneous snapshots of life in action.

Also included are tips that won’t overwhelm you on editing your images, pointers on composition, and ideas for storing and displaying your masterpieces. Because every day should be a day worth remembering.

Finally! Warmer weather! Time to fire up the grill and cook some meat! Omaha Steaks The Great American Grilling Book is just the book to get you started (and salivating!) The emphasis here is on – duh – beef, but there are also loads of recipes for pork, chicken, lamb, fish and seafood. A whole chapter is devoted to gourmet burgers and kabobs. Vegies also get their share of attention as well as starters, rubs, sauces and marinades; there’s even a section on desserts.

No more excuses for the same old burgers and chicken – try something new!

To many people, the last Monday in May signals the unofficial start of the summer season, but its origin is somewhat more serious. First observed to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War, Memorial Day has evolved to honor all men and women who have died in military service. Its original name, Decoration Day, reflects the purpose of the day – to decorate, with flags and flowers, the graves of soldiers and family.

I still remember tagging along with my grandparents as they would load up the car with clippers, trowels, jugs of water and pots of geraniums and drive to two or three tiny rural cemeteries where various members of the family have been buried. Memorial Day was an ideal time to neaten up the gravesite, add some colorful flowers and take a few minutes to remember. Many of the graves in these old cemeteries were decorated with plantings of iris and peonies. In fact, peonies used to be called Decoration Day flowers, they are such reliable late May bloomers.

Peonies are easy to add to any garden, big or small. They’re beautiful, fragrant, easy to grow, virtually care free. And they have the added bonus of making excellent cut flowers. Find out more about the breathtaking variety available and get lots of ideas of how to add them to your landscape in Peonies by Pamela McGeorge which is loaded with beautiful photos and excellent advice. (And no, ants aren’t a problem with peonies. Don’t get me started!)

Now, let’s get on with summer!