Native American Summer
Last year I wrote about Indian Autumn in November. I realize that if the Cleveland baseball organization and the Washington DC football organization can change their names and the Kansas City Chiefs can get rid of their war-painted mascot (presumably as an inevitable first step towards changing their politically incorrect name), then I can change my reference for this time of year. Cleveland now has the Guardians and DC has the Washington Football Team (very creative, not), so I have switched to Native American Summer to describe that time when the weather gets warmer for a time after the first cold snaps are felt. I may be jumping the gun since today is only the last day of September, but it was awfully cool and cloudy last week and this week’s return to the sunny 80’s seems quite notable to me. Last week I wore long pants every day and this week I am back in my shorts working in the yard. That’s enough for me to declare this as a meteorological phenomenon regardless of the name I give it.
I have looked up the name Indian Summer and found quite a bit of interesting references. There are many local variations and yet none of them really explain the name we in America have given to this by attributing it to Native Americans. One reference suggested that it might have been thought of as a non-permanent gift of warm weather and thus it connected in some way to the notion of being an Indian Giver. While Indian Summer does not otherwise seem pejorative, Indian Giver is most certainly pejorative. That expression stemmed from the European belief that as the “superior” race, they were entitles to receive the largess of the natives they encountered. Meanwhile, the natives were used to the notion of gift-giving as a form of trade and they expected some recompense. Hence, Europeans, once again showing cultural insensitivity and prejudice felt wronged when Native Americans either demanded something in return or wanted to get back their gifts. Attaching that reference to a short warm period in the Autumn seems a stretch since all seasons are non-permanent and thus designating a short warm period as somehow being taken back seems thin.
What is somewhat more interesting is that this time of year is, indeed, a gift of sorts in that it allows people some extra time of warmth to prepare for the onslaught of winter. In the Germanic countries there was “Altweibersommer”, which roughly translates into “old women’s summer”. In the Slavic-language countries of Czechia, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Russia it was also known as “Babie alto” or “old women’s summer”. Other countries call it “gypsy summer” or “poor man’s summer” and in other countries it was referenced as “little autumn”. In Latin America it goes by “Veranito” or “Veranillo” which best translates to “little summer” and it is directly connected to the El Niño effect, which is warm Pacific Ocean air flowing across the continent. My personal favorite though is Turkey, where it is called “pastrami summer” since it is the best time to make pastrami apparently.
Call me an Indian, call me an old woman or just call me a pastrami, but I like the pleasure of warming up again after a cold spell. I think i especially appreciate it out here in San Diego since we come to take our good weather for granted and when it gets rainy and cool like last week, the pleasure of that change wears off quickly and I want a return of the sun and the warmth. This really is a Native American Summer since it looks on the weather app to be giving us nice sunny warm weather for a week and then return us to the more seasonal mid to low 70’s weather we expect in October. A ten degree shift may not seem dramatic to most people but to us San Diego residents that feels pretty dramatic. By my calculus, 80 degree weather is definitely shorts weather, 70 degree weather is optional shorts or long pants and 60 degree weather is clearly time for long pants. I guess I gauge my days by what pants I will wear.
Today was a perfect day to be on the back hillside helping Jorge and Abel haul 10.5 yards of mulch downhill. I did most of the raking while they did the hauling and we got the job done by noon. Other than the clean-up. I went to KFC at their request for lunch. I must admit that its not on my usual menu of options but I was anxious to see how it all tasted since I’d been away so long. I know that I over-bought, but I was still surprised by how much it cost. I think I paid premium ricing since I requested mostly white meat breasts. Their pricing model seems geared towards giving you only 20% breasts and then loading you up with legs, thighs and wings. They claim wings are white meat, but I find that a stretch. They are big on traditional side dishes like mashed potatoes and gravy and the ubiquitous biscuits. Jorge and Abel seemed to enjoy it and I asked them to take home all the leftovers, of which there were plenty. I don’t mean for this to feel like charity since these guys work very hard for their money, but there is something about them standing at Home Depot every morning looking for day labor that makes me want to give them a helping hand.
I had thought today’s load of mulch would be the last of it, but I am a habitual underestimator of mulch. Or maybe I’m an overestimator? Whatever you want to call it, I never seem to get enough so I have booked one more day of mulch hauling down the hillside for next Wednesday. That will certainly do it (he says with great certainty). There will then be nary an inch of that back hillside that is not manicured with mulch and paths and plantings. I am very pleased with it and feel it was a very worthwhile project that occupied my late summer quite nicely. I will once again stay far away from the question of what’s next since all I know for sure is that I will come up with some project or other.
My son Thomas and his fiancé Jenna are coming out next week for a few days and I am quite anxious to proudly show them all that I have done on the property. COVID has kept family travel to a minimum and I am hoping that will change soon. I built the games area and my little Fairy Nook specifically for my granddaughters Charlotte and Evelyn, so I am hoping they can come out soon and see the place again. If you want to feel like the pandemic has dragged on for a long time, put it in the context of the lives of a eight and five year old. I doubt Evelyn even remembers ever coming out here. I really hope that before the next Native American Summer they will have a chance to rectify their extended absence from Casa Moonstruck.