TheBanyanTree: HOT, HOT, HOT

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Minnesota’s Memorial Day weekends are usually rainy and dreary, and
sometimes, downright cold, but this one promises to be a true summer weekend
with temps in the high 80s and low 90s, plus some good old fashioned
humidity.  Summer air is different than winter air.  Winter air has a sharp
edge to it, but summer air is sticky and gooey and less crisp.  Sounds and
sights seem all mashed together rather than formed into neatly defined
entities.  Perhaps that’s why summer is considered our laid back season, a
time to relax and enjoy and slow down, instead of spending our time working
hard and moving fast.

My summer started out with a morning walk around our pond in our office
complex.  We keep an eye out for herons and egrets, and the baby ducks.  The
pond is in the middle of suburbia and close to the airport, but if a plane
isn’t coming in for a landing and the cars aren’t roaring by on the freeway,
it’s easy to forget and pretend we really are out in the country taking a
morning stroll.

My summer work day continued with an actual project to do, which helped make
the time zip by.  My son called me and we decided to meet for lunch.  The
younger grandson is in his care, as he won’t start school until the fall.
My son will have both boys this summer, and he’s trying to figure out what
to do with them.  Yes, those lazy, hazy daze of summer with two children,
lucky him, and the older one needs lots of focus to stay out of trouble.

My summer work day ended with most of us sneaking out early in order to hit
the highways before they clogged up with people going to their cabins.  We
stay in town, with no cabin to go to, but we don’t mind.  In spite of it
being summer, I have a list of chores to do.  Ray has already thinned out
the lilacs.  I want to cut the grass and then finish planting my garden.
There is laundry to do and floors to vacuum.

And then Ray and I are going to do something really brave to kick off the
summer.  We’re going to walk two blocks to the bus stop and take the bus to
the Mall of America (that shrine to materialism – it’s just a big mall,
nothing special, although tourists seem to think it must have some magic)
and then we’ll catch the light rail to the Twins game at the Dome.  How
about that?  We’re going to go somewhere without our car!  What an
adventure!

Yes, it’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so
it's all right.
~Maya Angelou