When You Think About It: Summer's the Best

photo: F LoBuono/ The Blizzard of 2010, NYC

When you think about it, summer is the best season. Yeah, I know all about the stifling humidity, so thick you can walk "on it", not just through it! And this summer has been particularly hot and humid. Still, in summer, things are alive. There are sounds everywhere. Streets are pulsating with people and activity. Children squeal as they play in the neighborhood. The ice cream truck makes it's regular rounds, alerting the kids to its presence with the canned music playing from its loudspeakers. In the morning, thousands of birds sing me awake. At night, the crickets and other creepy-crawlies serenade me to sleep.

As long as I'm near some source of water, it can never get too hot. If I'm in the garden on a particularly hot day, there's always the hose for a quick cooling spray-off. If I have the time and energy there's always my kayak and the River. An hours worth of paddling, followed by a quick dunk in the River and I'm rejuvenated. As worst, one can always jump in a refreshing, cold shower. No matter how hot it gets, I always seem to find a way to cool off. Now, in the winter, once I get chilled, it seems that I just can't get warm again. No matter how many layers I wear or fires that I build, once that cold sets in, it just won't to go away.

I suppose that I'm more adapted for summer anyway. As I have often mentioned, my ancestors all hailed from Sicily. So, I am blessed with olive skin that tends to tan even when I'm just shown a photograph of the sun! While others are diving for the shade, I'm soaking up even more sun. Now, I don't recommend this for everyone, the sun can be damaging. And I have a healthy respect for it, sun screening, and covering when necessary. It's just that I have such a high tolerance for it. In fact, I love it.

And, when you think about it, super hot days are not that different from super cold ones: things slow down. They have to. When we get a blizzard and a serious cold snap, the City can (and does) grind to a halt. It's the same with a heat wave. When the sidewalks are melting, the City takes on a distinctively slower pace. All we need do is slow down a bit to enjoy it.

So, when you start complaining that it's too damned hot outside, call up this blog posting and look at this picture. I think that you may change your mind!