Summer Vacation

AS SUMMER approaches, I've decided I should take a French-style summer vacation this year. French vacations (at least as far as I can tell from French movies) seem so much more rewarding than ours.

The crass trailer for Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau's "Cote d'Azur" suggests it is but another ooh-la-la French sex farce, but the film is actually a gentle parable on the folly of sexual pretense. It is a comedy, more sensual than sexy, and it is wise in the ways of the heart -- and the loins. This is a sophisticated adult treat in the French manner with an attractive and gifted cast and is essentially serious, yet often whimsical and always compassionate.

In the dead of night on July 7, Pennsylvania's state legislators secretly voted themselves substantial pay raises. There was no debate. Nobody notified the media that night. Then the lawmakers slipped out of town on a two-month vacation. Reporters wrote about the raises, which ranged from 16% to 34%, right away -- triggering protest that has lasted more than a month, enlivening the dog days of August with a wave of public contempt, scorn and vitriol.

Taking the kids along on summer vacation is easier with these new items, all of which have been tested by the author. -- Judi Dash Raising a child AeroBed, maker of a popular line of quick-inflating mattresses, has introduced a model for children. Just plug the kit's pump into an outlet, and it inflates the vinyl bed in 60 seconds. A quick-release valve deflates the bed in 15 seconds.

The possible retirement of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has taken shape as a hulking storm front approaching this anxious city. It won't rain. It won't blow over. It's just parked there. Rumbling. An entire industry of activist groups is waiting to lurch into action should the ailing jurist decide to create the first Supreme Court vacancy in 11 years -- as many experts had expected him to do Monday, when the high court issued its last rulings for the current session.

Though summer days are not exactly lazy anymore, life slowed down enough at our house recently to attempt a project in the kitchen that up until then we'd only talked about: taking my 12-year-old daughter Lily to the next level in her cooking. Figuratively speaking, she wanted to make the move from a prep cook to a sous chef. For quite awhile Lily has wanted to invite her two best pals, Elaine Ejigu and Elsie Taffere, over for a meal that she wanted to make herself, from beginning to end.

It's there, looming six weeks in the future: a summer vacation where bathing suits and shorts are mandatory attire. But the thought of squeezing into either sends you into a cold panic. Those 20 extra pounds that have been hanging on for dear life need to go. Can you lose them in a few short weeks without resorting to unsafe crash diets or questionable supplements? Yes, if you have a will of steel to stick to a strict workout program and a sensible diet for several weeks.

By plane, auto and gas-guzzling recreational vehicle, more Americans likely will travel across the West this summer, drawn to California beaches, scenic hiking trails in the Rockies and whale-watching off the coast of Washington. Although there are lingering concerns about the ongoing war with Iraq and the threat of a terrorist attack, most travel industry officials say the big question for the summer's success is how high gas prices will climb.

Even those who loved Kirk Douglas in the classic 1960 version of "Spartacus" will have to confess that Goran Visnjic, "ER's" resident heartthrob, out-ripples Douglas, pec for pec, when he takes on the slave-turned-gladiator role tonight and Monday in the USA Network's two-part "Spartacus" miniseries, based on Howard Fast's historical novel. A month before he reported to work on the project last summer in Bulgaria, Visnjic decided to get into gladiator fighting shape.

CBS' summer hot streak is continuing, as the network had seven of the top 10 most popular shows among total viewers, according to national Nielsen ratings released Tuesday. Only two editions of the "Law & Order" franchise -- "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: SVU" -- and a preseason football game on ABC between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the St. Louis Cardinals stopped CBS' domination.