Dearest sun: Your hue has softened — The color of organic egg yolks, Dipping below the tree line, Hushing evening earlier each day. Dearest crickets: You chirp for your next mate, saying, “Hey girl, come find your summer love!” But your abundant song, for me, is a melancholy Reminder: this season grows short. Dearest morning: …
Summer
Summer Classics: Porch Party
Where I grew up, on the west side of Rochester, NY, was a suburban mecca of new homes built during the 1960s and 1970s on expanses of former farm land. All the homes are split levels, colonials, and raised ranches. The new homeowners of that era (my parents’ generation) wanted “new” houses – not the …
Summer Classics: Roller coasters and Skeeball
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been to the amusement park, and I’ve never been with The Husband. Amusement park rides and crowds are on his list of things to avoid whenever possible, so I’ve always gone with a friend or tagged along with my sister and the nephews. Since there are fewer …
Summer Classics: Follow the Crowd
Street festivals, carnivals, outdoor free concerts, parades, beaches, races… summer draws a crowd. Big crowds. We put on our sunglasses then head over to the nearest weekend attraction. We circle the parking area, then wait for the shuttle bus. Then we wait in line for food/drinks/games. Then we are generally jostled in a crowd, and …
Summer Classics: Road Trip
It’s Saturday morning and the air is a perfect 75 degrees with a light breeze and puffy clouds. No social commitments on the calendar, no pressing chores…what to do? The day is a blank slate, and I feel a tug to get out of the house. The feeling is wanderlust, so we gas up the …
Summer: Commence!
Cut-off jeans! How I’ve missed you! Sock-less feet in Crocs… (…don’t hate, wearing your flip-flops.) Sweaty bottle at my elbow: Summer! Cut grass, boxwood & peonies — Bicycle tires — Sealer on a hot driveway — Charcoal burning under your burgers: These are fragrances of… Summer! Blockbuster superhero movie in a chilly theater. Waiting in …
Drought
Six months ago, I wrote this short blog post about enduring winter in the Northeast. On January 31st of this year, my corner of the state experienced a 17°F day that also provided a scant 9 hours and 54 minutes of daylight. (Daylight. Not sunshine, not night, just “daylight”.) This was an improvement over the …
