The best summers are the ones you actually sink into. There's a particular pleasure in the season's slower hours, the long afternoons that invite a project you've been meaning to start, the quiet evenings made for finishing a book, the small creative rituals that turn an ordinary day into something worth remembering. It's less about grand plans than the little things done with care: a skirt sewn for the bathroom sink, thank-you notes painted by hand, a scrapbook filling up with the funny things the kids say. So we've put together a checklist of projects, reads, and small pleasures to make the most of summer, one unhurried afternoon at a time.

The Bucket List: Projects, Books, and Small Pleasures

1. Decoupage!

2. Use remnants of old linen sheets to make baby pillows.

3. Cover notebooks with wallpaper scraps. 

4. Buy some water colors and good paper and work at it every day. Paint your house at the end of the summer!

5. Sew a skirt for a bathroom sink.

6. Make lichen moss fairy villages with kids in wicker baskets. 

7. Paint thank you notes for friends. 

8. Frame kids art and start a collection.

9. Create a scrapbook of summer with the kids and don't forget to write down funny things they say!

10. Keep a guest book (we like this one) and thank you notes from friends. 

11. Assemble a drawer of place cards for frequent guests with little water colors or line drawings.

12. Work your way through books in the house.

13. Re-read a favorite book.

14. Work on posters and ribbons for your dog show. 

15. Write down recipes for friends.

16. Frame favorite evening menus and keep in your pantry.

17. Keep a list of the summer's best swims. 

18. Put together a big wonderful bowl with brooken ceramics and sea glass on your porch. 

19. Attack the attic and rehabilitate a forgotten treasure.

20. Put down your phone!

21. Buy mismatched wine glasses. 

22. Work on your doll house or buy one whenever you see a good one!

23. Line bureau drawers with wallpaper remnants or beautiful shelf paper.

24. Start a house section of local authors.

25. Arrive at estate sales before opening. 

26. Find children's chairs and personalize them.

27. Buy old quilts, even damaged ones.

28. Collect antique flags.

29. Register for Thomaston Maine auctions, a thrill!

30. Buy monogrammed linens regardless of initials.

31. Scout for old rocking horses for the porch. 

32. Never miss a church fair. 

33. Collect tableware far and wide.

34. Look for tole lamps and rewire them. 

35. Snap up Quimper pottery.

36. Make next summer's bucket list before this summer ends.