Summer Vacation

The summer people are almost all gone now. They left by the boatload, their watches strapped back on their wrists, school calendars lodged in their minds, work reappearing like worry lines under the cosmetic of a summer tan. As if on cue, the light changed with the month. The soft summer haze lifted its comforting curtain. There is a September clarity now, a crisp, luminous, hard edge to the view from the porch. Even the atmosphere is demanding that we look ahead. Sometime over Labor Day, the conversation on the roads shifted as well, away from languorous reports about the weather and the state of the bluefish, to one insistent line of inquiry.

We want to see where you go and what you do on vacation this summer - and we'll pay $25 for each of the best 10 photos taken from Memorial Day weekend through Aug. 15 E-mail your photo (one per person) and a description of what it shows to: . Also provide your name, address and phone number. Or, mail entries to Bill Reed, Travel Editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, P.O. Box. 8263, Philadelphia 19130 . Must be received by Aug. 15.

Nothing like a common enemy to make friends of historic foes. In Recess: School's Out, the principal and the cutup join forces against education reformers. In an America where rethinking education tops the national agenda, Recess: School's Out is a priority for moviegoers of all ages. Tweaking those of the William Bennett stripe for efforts to make school a year-round affair, the film's heroes are fourth graders united against a rogue reformer who would deprive them of that ultimate recess: summer vacation.

You could call the Pennsylvania Legislature's summer vacation a time of sex, lies and sanity escape. Like school kids loose on too-hot days, lawmakers seemed summer-loco. No fewer than 10 legislators, including leaders in both parties, wound up in bad-news events from perjury convictions to piggishness with planes. There was the bizarre sex-photo scandal involving one lawmaker's wife, the odd case of the 10-ton generator, raw sewage and much, much more. "I'm as puzzled as anyone else," said state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County, a 23-year legislative veteran known for his Jimmy Stewart-like straightness.

Hersey Hawkins won't have to wait until training camp to remove the stain of a poor playoff series from his memory. The 76ers will make him a part of individual workouts with the coaching staff in July, and he will become a major project when the team renews its involvement with the Southern California Summer Pro Basketball League. Hawkins, along with several other veterans and a small group of draft choices and free agents, will take part in the Los Angeles league for two weeks in early August.

Bill Hohlfeld went to Utah for his summer vacation. He flew out of Harrisburg with only an hour's notice, marched through airports single file with 20 other men, and when he landed in Salt Lake City two weeks ago, he was taken directly to the local junior high school, where he bunked out in the gymnasium. Hohlfeld, 27, this year used his two weeks off to fight the raging forest fires that are destroying thousands of acres out west. He was enlisted as part of the Pennsylvania Specialized Forest Fire Crew - District 17. "This seemed boring when I came back, that's for sure," Hohlfeld said last week as he raked through freshly tilled soil in Newtown Square.

The obstacle to really letting loose on Labor Day is finding a reason to celebrate the end of summer vacation. There is, of course, the true meaning of Labor Day - offering a tribute to the many contributions of the nation's workers. Unfortunately, most of us don't even think about that, even with a yearly pro-union parade to mark the occasion. So we're left trying to put false smiles on sad farewells to grilled hamburgers and picnic-table umbrellas. Saying goodbye is so much easier at a Labor Day shindig or an old-fashioned ethnic festival.

With Labor Day weekend approaching, children can count on one hand the remaining days of summer vacation. To make the most of the last weekend before school begins, take a look at the following events planned throughout the county. The activities are listed by municipality. BENSALEM. Philadelphia Park race track is conducting its annual Pennsylvania Derby Family Festival rain or shine from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Children and adults can enjoy horse racing, a petting zoo, pony rides and entertainment.

AMSTERDAM - The Dutch parliament has summoned Prime Minister Mark Rutte back from summer vacation to re-debate the bailout package for Greece that European leaders agreed upon July 21. Opposition parties have complained that Rutte initially presented the package as (euro) 109 billion ($154 billion), including contributions from banks, but it later emerged that amount did not include the banks' share of roughly (euro) 50 billion more. Parliament is in recess until September, but its finance commission had a hearing Wednesday.

Three months. Twelve weeks. Ninety-plus days. More than 2,000 hours. Yet inexplicably, summer's expanse of time seems to increase the pressure on parents to do something special with it for their kids. There's camp, afternoons by the pool, a visit to the grandparents, and the annual trip to the zoo. But what about that flash of summer quicksilver, the "Wow!" moment they could put at the top of their back-to-school essay, the thing that would one day allow them to say, "Remember that time . . .?"

NEW YORK - If September is what first comes to mind when considering new television shows, there are some 82 reasons to think again. That's the number of new programs that have or will premiere on cable networks post-Memorial Day through August, based on an informal survey. That doesn't even include existing series that are starting new seasons (HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," USA's "Burn Notice," etc.) or new programs on broadcast TV (NBC's "Love Bites" and ABC's "101 Ways to Leave a Game Show")

SUPERINTENDENT Arlene Ackerman may have dashed the hopes of critics by insisting yesterday that she's keeping her job here, but that doesn't mean that she's not looking forward to getting out of town. Sources in the district, its unions and around the city, said yesterday that Ackerman is rumored to be heading to France for a summer vacation. A district spokeswoman said that Ackerman has not disclosed her travel plans. "Do I plan to take some time for myself with friends and family?

While Mayor Nutter struggles to forge closer ties with City Council - especially after Council turned down his soda-tax proposal - he's had more success at shoring up another relationship. The mayor met in his office last week with U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D., Pa.) and Joey Vento, owner of Geno's Steaks in South Philadelphia. The meeting followed what Vento took as a snub when the Nutter administration in April rejected his offer to donate two horse trailers to the Police Department for its mounted patrol.

It's time for the 4th annual Readers' Summer Vacation Photos contest. We want to see where you went and what you did on vacation. And we'll pay $25 each for the best 10 photos taken from Memorial Day Weekend through Aug. 18. We want to see sunrises and sunsets, sunbathers and waterskiers, mountain hikes and campsites. E-mail your photo (one per person) and a description of where and when it was taken and what it shows, to inquirer.travel@phillynews.com . Include your name, address and daytime phone number.

With gas prices above $4 in some states, Americans are canceling spring break plans and rethinking summer vacation, and some tourist destinations are offering gas vouchers of as much as $50 to talk people out of giving up and staying home. At Mount Rushmore, only about 37,000 people decided in March that seeing the four granite-etched presidential sculptures was worth the trip, down from about 43,000 a year before. At the Grand Canyon, a marketing executive for one company that offers sweeping helicopter vistas says that 10 percent fewer people than last year are driving up and booking tours.

Cody Brown's summer vacation consisted of one day. That was the time the Gloucester Catholic senior quarterback had off between the end of the Senior American Legion baseball season and his first football practice. Brown was a standout lefthander for Brooklawn, which won its 24th Senior American Division state title and was two wins from qualifying for the American Legion World Series in Spokane, Wash. The season ended when Brooklawn lost Aug. 9 in the final game of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament in West Lawn, Pa. Gloucester Catholic had a football workout scheduled the next day, but coach Tony Garczynski told Brown to take it off. So Brown reported to an informal workout (without pads)