Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Officially Summer??


My family spent Memorial Day weekend at our cottage in the Finger Lakes, vacuuming, dusting, mowing, raking, picking up acorns, planting, observing the feral cat’s kittens under our house, and eventually getting out on the boat, at which point I said, “It’s officially ‘summer’.”

My son said, “No, it’s not. It’s not summer until school is over.” I could understand his feeling. After all, we did have to come home early so he could spend six hours of the holiday weekend on his homework. Some holiday, eh?!

Of course, some would say it’s not official until we reach the summer solstice, June 21st. The summer solstice occurs when the sun is in the zenith at the tropic of Cancer, creating the longest day of the year.

But on June 1st when our city reached a record high of ninety-one degrees and even the air conditioning couldn’t keep the humidity at bay, I said, “No, it’s definitely summer.”

So, is it a date, a time, a temperature, or an event that makes it “officially summer” in your mind? When does it feel like “summertime” to you?

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