It's Summer...

The first major three-day weekend is upon us...Memorial Day Weekend (sounds like a dichotomy to me). For the majority of the country this weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer. For we folks who live in sweltering and sultry Florida, it's been "summer" for weeks now. We had spring...it was one day back in March. I mark the beginning of summer by putting my windbreaker away for the last time and wearing socks only on Sundays with my deck shoes (a.k.a. "boat" shoes).

I don't own a boat. I've always wanted to own a boat. There's water everywhere and boats galore. But I don't own one. I've always wanted one, but my wife has never been too fond of the idea. She has always wanted a swimming pool, but I've never been too keen on the drudgery of having to maintain a swimming pool. So we don't have a swimming pool. We compromised. Neither one of us have what we both wanted. I keep thinking that one day I'll win the Florida lottery and then we can both could have what we've both longed for all these years. Only problem with that plan is you have to actually purchase a lottery ticket to have any chance, minuscule as it may be, of winning. I seem to forget to buy that mandatory ticket each week. Oh well...there's always the beach!

So, summer is in full swing here in central Florida. A season that will last from mid to late March until mid to late October. Aside from the heat and the accompanying, clothes drenching humidity, you can tell it's summer because you don't see any of the neighbors much anymore, except as they scurry to and fro from their air conditioned homes to their air conditioned cars. Floridians hibernate in the summer. We're funny that way. Another sure sign that summer has overtaken us is that the streets and highways become less crowded. The "snow birds" have taken flight for cooler climes to the north and left we permanent residents with a little more elbow room. In this heat we need all the extra room we can get. They'll be back in late October...after the hurricane season has wound down. On a lot of counts, these are pretty savy folks.

Memorial Day Weekend...I'm looking forward to the three-day weekend. I'll spend some of it just sitting in my air-conditioned car and thinking about taking a trip north. I'll just think about it. It's much cheaper to dream about that road trip than to apply for a second mortgage so that the car can be filled with gasoline. Maybe a swimming pool isn't such a bad idea after all. This weekend I'll think on that too. Funny thing...I really enjoy summer. Would be better if I had a boat.