Friday, June 23, 2017
It’s SUMMERTIME! Finally. As in FIN-AL-LY! OMG.
If our weather was to be 56 and rainy/gloomy/gray/gross this weekend – even for a smidgeon of it – I was ready to jump off the cliff or pack up the dogs and drive somewhere.
ANYWHERE! Just to get away from this moss producing nastiness.
Yes, officially Summer arrived the other day. I know that from the calendar and because for days now the neighbors have all been dancing around some solstice pole down the street. The bongo drums have been beating and I’m half expecting Goldie Hawn to come prancing and gyrating down the road doing some dance like she did in House Sitter. You see, usually, for us, warm weather does not arrive until well after the beginning of what is commonly known as “Summer”.
Summer’s customary arrival, at least around here, comes late in the game. Usually not until after the calendar page turns to July and precisely not until after all the fireworks have gone off and the potato salad has seen a better day – do we dare to say that summer has arrived.
And yet – here I am … doing just that!
I certainly hope I’m not tempting fate but I’ve looked at the forecast and it seems that our gray and mizzly days of mid 50’s are in the past and that our “summer” temps have arrived. And when I say “summer temps” I mean mid to upper 60s. So, yeah, you people in Arizona and southern Cal … we are gearing up to enjoy what is “parka weather” to you!
However, I am very excited for this weekend because we are having a virtual NW heatwave. We are to hover around 80 degrees … aka HELL for islanders. Except for me. I am waking up early and going to bed late and I am going to soak up every single ray of sunshine and degree of warmth that I possibly can!
This lobster is ready! Give me a weekend of blazing sunshine! Give me a weekend of temps that make northwesterners bitch and moan! Give me at least 2 days of glorious SUMMER and then I can face the typical 60’s with some patience – until the next “heat wave”.
This lobster has been absent for a while. Hibernation is what my excuse is. I literally took the groundhog’s word for 6 more weeks of winter to heart – but up in the NW 6 weeks translates to 5 months. Around here, one can’t tell Feb 2nd from July 2nd – except that in Feb the grass is greener and there are less flowers as mid 50’s seem to be the norm for any given day.
What is that saying? ‘My longest winter was the summer I spent in San Francisco.’ … ??? Whomever said that never spent Sept-July in the northwest. Or as it is so “affectionately” called … the northwet!
But, it’s SUMMERTIME! Those glorious 2 maybe 3 months where the temps top out in the high 60s and everyone here (except for me) is practically having heat exhaustion! I keep telling them to take off their jackets – but they don’t listen. Layers are a constant here even in summer.
But this weekend it will be HOT by NW standards and I’m ready. I’ve got a stack of magazines (from April, I think) that need to be read. I’ve got dogs to walk and ribs to cook and meals to eat out on my deck. I have a chaise lounge that hasn’t been sat in in months. I’ve got white peach sangria waiting to be made and a firepit just aching to be used. I might even roast me a marshmallow or two (or three). I will revel in (what my neighbors will call) the blistering heat. While they are inside with cool cloths on their necks, I’ll be on my deck soaking up every single droplet of golden sunshine – I might even wear a tube top! I might even break a sweat! Now, wouldn’t that be wonderful?!
I’m getting up early tomorrow and watering the gardens and planters … our rain days are over and once that happens we’ll be lucky to get ANY rain from now until September. The NW is weird that way. Rain, rain, rain and more rain and then nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. My once lush, spring green grass is already turning tan and crunchy … my garden beds, despite yesterday’s watering, are parched and wilted.
In any case … it’s SUMMERTIME! The inside chores can wait until Monday when it’s to be back in the mid 60s but for the next 48 hours I’m going to play outside as much as I can for as long as I can! I’m going to work and play and do nothing at all! I’ll drag my hose around and powerwash my deck and fence and lie out in the sun and read and then do absolutely nothing but enjoy that sunshine.
Those of you who don’t live here, I know, you think I’m nuts! What’s the big deal? Well, this is a big deal up here! FINALLY we have nice, warm weather! FINALLY it’s not wet! FINALLY there is SUN! We had a weekend in May and before and after those lovely 2 days it has been phenomenally putrid. Ask anyone. So, this is a big deal. And I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it!
Sandals get ready! Charcoal briquettes – here I come! Dogs – get on your bikinis cuz I’m hooking up the sprinkler! I’m not going to whine about getting sunburned … cuz even if it’s only for 2 days … it’s SUMMERTIME!