06.09.15  There’s always a point, early in the summer season, where you realize, yes, it is truly Summer.  My daughter, Joy, wrote on Facebook today, “This is the first day it has finally seemed like summer vacation to me…it’s 91 degrees and the kids are shrieking and running through the sprinkler.” It really is an amazing moment.  Even as we complain about the early heat and fear for a summer of forest fires, there comes this startling realization that a new season is upon us.  All the comfortable patterns and routines of Winter are suddenly upended as we are pulled along into this splendidly exciting, invigorating, party of Summer.  Bill called tonight to say he was back in town and had just put his boat in the water–would we like a ride?

“Of course!”, and we trolled along the shoreline in the hot heat before dinner, the only boat on the lake.  Nobody expects it to be Summer until the 4th of July, so vacation homes are still empty and few have put boats in the water.  When we returned, we rolled the awning down to shade the porch and had our cocktails with a lovely breeze off the lake.  I opened the windows to the woods, so the cool downdraft after nightfall will fill the house.  I watered the plants and brought in the laundry after dinner, and, it’s still not dark, nearly two hours past our wintertime bedtime.  No wonder kids shriek and run through the sprinkler on a day like today…really, isn’t it just amazing!