Summertime
Today is the last day of May and even though the summer season doesn’t officially start for another 21 days until the summer solstice, June is a summer month and warm sunny weather is what we are all accustomed to finding in the lazy days of summer. As you know by now, this has been an unusual year here on the hilltop. Between atmospheric rivers and extended cooler weather, we feel as though we have barely had a spring worth noticing. The truth is that with all the rain we have had (11.82 inches YTD) we are already almost at twice the rainfall that we had last year and are already, after only five months, at an amount equal to our normal annual rainfall amounts. I read an article that said that the U.S. overall is in store for a very hot summer. Well, you wouldn’t know it from the weather he have had so far here or that we are currently having here. As I sit here in my office waiting for a 7am business call, it is 51 degrees with an expected high of 62 degrees. That compares to New York City, where the high today is projected to reach 76 and it will be sunny, compared to our prognosis of lots of June gloom.
I am heading off in two and a half weeks for a motorcycle ride in Arizona and New Mexico, so I looked out at what the weather looks to be like during that ride. While it is still barely cracking 70 degrees here when I start that ride, the temperature in Phoenix, where we will start the ride, is projected to be 101. Even in the hills of Arizona and New Mexico, I don’t see any temperature below the high 80s, so it promises to be a warm ride, to say the least. I guess what that means is that I will get thrust into summer around the time of the solstice whether I like it or not. In general, I would say that I tend to like the weather a bit on the cooler side and not swelteringly hot. I have always figured it is easier to put on a sweater and warm up than it is to crawl out of your skin when you are too warm. There is also something seemingly less healthy about sitting in front of a cooling air conditioner current when you are sweating. But perhaps I have become accustomed to the warmer weather here in San Diego because I can say for certain that this year I am missing the year-round summer weather. That feeling of warmth when you first step outside in the morning is now something I find myself wishing for.
I don’t really want to project what this summer is likely to be about here on on the hilltop because this year has been so aberrant that I’m low on forecasting confidence. There is a part of me that finds it hard to imagine warmth again and another part of me that thinks I will regret my wishes and be sweltering for much of the summer, wondering what I was thinking hoping for warmer weather. The two week horizon favors the former prognosis, but I cannot rule out the possibility of a total reversal of weather fortunes.
What I do know about this summer is that our plans call for us to go right into the face of the anticipated heat of the southwest with visits spanning almost three weeks in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. I have this distinct feeling that despite whatever the weather patterns bring to this hilltop, I will have more than my share of warmth and sweat as the summer progresses. As of now, those three weeks are slotted for June and July, with August left mostly to being here at home on the hilltop. By the end of August we will be back in the East for son Thomas’ wedding in the Hudson Valley. That will take us through Labor Day and the summer will be over at that point even though, as we all know, the warm weather continues well into September. As of this moment, we have no other trips planned for the fall, having swung and missed twice on trips to Europe and Morocco. In fact, our next big trip after the summer is scheduled for Southeast Asia in February, where I’m sure we will learn all about hot and humid weather.
I often say that we all have only so many Christmases left in us, but the same should be said for summers. Summertime is always equated with the living being easy, as the song says. All creatures live for summer and suffer through the other seasons for that brief moment of warmth in the sun. When I think back to years gone by, I think that the summer memories are the ones we find fondest. They are carefree and filled with all the leisurely joys we most like in life. There are exceptions to that to be sure, but I doubt that any random selection of best times wouldn’t show a preponderance of tales of summer fun.
From my days in Latin America, my summer was reversed and thus confused, so I begin my summer memories in Wisconsin. We would go lake swimming in Lake Mendota and there was summer camp in the local park, at the YMCA day camp and my one summer at Camp Red Arrow in the northern part of the state. In Maine, the summers were particularly special, spent mostly on the Poland Springs Golf Course and canoeing on Lower Range Pond. I learned about hard work there, caddying, shagging balls, running a small 9th hole concession and wrangling golf carts while playing lots of twilight golf before heading down to the lake. In Rome, the summers were very unlike in America for a teenager. There were no summer jobs, so we used the time to explore Europe by motorcycle. The memory of pitching a tent in an open field in Austria only to find ourselves in the middle of an early harvest in the early morning was pretty memorable. Trying to understand the Italian tendency for gregariousness at the beach when there were wide open spaces and stretches of empty sand available was lesson in cultural sociology. At Cornell, my summer memories, at least after my Atlantic City adventure in the hotel business, were mostly about enjoying the Finger Lakes and remembering the fireflies and ice cream at Purity in the glow of the moon off Lake Cayuga.
My adult summer memories are much more scattered since summer loses some of its meaning and importance when you get into work harness. In my Long Island days there was the beach club at Sun & Surf. After that, there were those perfect sunny days in Quiogue sitting by the pool and jumping in when it got too hot. Enjoying the white on white fashion of the day was a dusting Hampton’s memory. After that, I think of Utah in the summer, where the high desert is so very pleasant and everything from mountain biking to motorcycling through the canyons is on the menu. At that point in life, Kim and I started doing summer trips to Europe with the whole family, enjoying rented villas in Italy, France and Ireland. Those stories fill a large part of my fond memories of summer.
Now that I am in retirement, but then again, still working pretty hard, I enjoy the summer being off from teaching and yet doing expert witness work as it comes and goes. Summer is less distinct in this environment and state of mind, but it will never completely lose its special place in the heart. Life should always be about the anticipation of summertime.