Easy summertime livin’

Summer has arrived in our neck of the woods. The days grew longer but now once again shorten a little with each new day. The sun shines brightly. The flowers are blooming and the garden is growing.

But I confess I never welcome summer, although I do admit to some aspects of summer I can find myself liking.

Like more daylight in my hours making darkness descend later, that’s good. I also enjoy sitting on our front porch swing when weather permits and watching the fireflies light up our yard with their little blinking lights here and there.

And I do I relish sunshine, I really do, but not when the sun feels so intensely hot it scorches my fair skin (thanks to my English ancestors).

The blooming flowers are, of course, beautiful but they require watering to keep them that way, especially when rain showers don’t appear as often as they should. As does the garden if we want to see any produce from it.

The problem with summer, in my opinion, is it just gets too hot and humid (and we don’t even live in the south!). When temperatures soar and the thermometer steadily climbs up into the 90-some degrees Fahrenheit, usually the humidity increases as well.

And as each degree ascends higher and it gets downright sticky, I wilt like a soppy, old dish rag. My get-up-go disappears and I become lethargic, lazy, and cranky to boot. Even my motivation to write in this blog wilts and withers.

That old Gershwin tune, “Summertime and the livin‘ is easy” just doesn’t cut it with me. Summertime is usually hard for me to do my living the way I want. I’m more of a cool weather gal.

But summer has arrived. It IS July, after all, and we are in the throes of the season. But, at least for the last couple of weeks, this summer feels different.

Of course, there is the covid-19 thing still hanging over our heads and that definitely caused summer to be altered. The usual summer festivities like county fairs, farm shows, and festivals have all been cancelled. Large scale picnics, outings, and family reunions are all on hold.

But it’s more than just these restrictions that cause me to sit up and take notice to this summer. In the last week or so, 90° plus weather has arrived, but the humidity level has stayed fairly low.

Evenings cool down instead of feeling like I’m trapped in a sauna. Early mornings are pleasant and my friend and I can still enjoy our walks without sweating profusely.

We only recently turned our air conditioner on and that’s unusual. Up until now, we managed sleeping at night with windows wide open and cool air circulating with just the help of a ceiling fan and a box fan. And I’ve managed to keep the weeds at bay without sweltering while plucking them.

I just mentioned to Papa yesterday that even though it was 93° out, I wasn’t wilting and weary from the heat. My body seemed to adjust to the higher temperature more easily and I’m fairly certain it’s because of the lack of high humidity and I shared that revelation with my husband.

Papa mused, “Hmm…maybe you could learn to live in the south or somewhere like Arizona.” To which I replied with a tsk rolling off my tongue, a shake of my head, and a scoff. No way!

I’ll stay right here, right where I am, thank you very much, and I’ll just be grateful for a summer that perhaps I can endure.

A summer I might be able to enjoy. A summer that’s different. I just hope it lasts.

If you need me, you’ll find me on the front porch swing taking this summer easy.

“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” ~ Sam Keen

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