Today is the official start to summer. If there was any doubt that the season of sunshine and rainbows has arrived we only needed to reflect on the past weekend.
Saturday and Sunday couldn’t have been more perfect. Actually, at risk of sounding a little hyperbolic, it was positively utopian. Temperatures soared while humidity was held at bay. A consistent breeze stirred the torpid air just enough. Skies were clear through day and night. Backyard campfires lit the landscape like clusters of landed fireflies.
Even the mosquitoes co-operated and allowed us a peaceful bit of socializing through the balmy evenings and into the nights.
I welcome summer’s arrival with slight reluctance. It’s time with us is far too short and I celebrate more late spring as we linger at its edges. It’s more relaxing to enjoy the promise than it is to think of its days slipping away.
I’m not really sure when this happened. I remember the summers of my youth, comprised of long lazy days, and slow easy nights of gentle breezes wafting through open windows into steamy rooms. Time moved slowly despite weeks full of activities and visits. I spent time with my grandparents, with family friends, with cousins. We went to lakeshores and on car trips.
They were truly glorious times which in retrospect, at least, seemed endless. Now I need to figure out how to make them last as an adult.
In celebration of the summer solstice and the season of sunshine and rainbows here are some illustrations of sun, sand and surf, flora and fauna,
barbecues and picnics, swimming and sailing:
