Welcome Summer(?)

It's the last week of June and our third week of solid rain. Outside it's overcast every day. We got a brief glimpse at the sun Sunday afternoon, but I commented on it, thereby jinxing it and sending another deluge of showers. My poor flowers out front are now actually too waterlogged and cold to bloom.

The first week of the month was toasty. Low 80's every day and very sunny. I remember commenting that it was going to be a long summer. Even though the low 80's doesn't sound very warm, the fact that the days here are so long in the summer and virtually no place has air conditioning can make one long for a cool breeze. I even said I might have to invest in a fan for the house. Ha! Global climate change went and smacked us in the face once more and we've been bundling up ever since.

Actually, if truth be told, I don't really mind this weather. This time of year makes me slightly homesick because it was two years ago that I moved. It's a bittersweet thing, really. And one thing that I'll always remember about the move is the weather. We were having one of those classic Midwest heat waves - you know, mid 90's with air so heavy you could scoop it up and put it in a jar. My parents' air conditioning conked out just a couple days before my move, which added to the experience. And the day before I moved, as I was racing in and out of places like the BMV to get my new driver's license in my married name, we were bombarded by a massive summer thunderstorm. It was one of those that was so strong you couldn't hear the radio in the car because the rain was so hard on the roof.

Weather is a funny thing. We really do mark our days by it. The Irish are quite accustomed to summers like we're having now, minus that week of sun and warmth at the beginning of the month. When I would comment during our warm spell that we could be in a for quite a warm summer here, my tone was twinged with a bit of whininess. But the response I'd get was almost always the same: "Please God!" Global warming is both a concern and a delight to the Irish who are experiencing and clinging onto warm, sunny summers quite often now, unlike the colder, overcast summers of the past. Hot, sticky summers were one thing I was happy to leave behind, however.

They say the weather will break. In some ways I hope it does. The air is heavy with all this humidity and it really does make nearly everyone a bit sluggish. And a few weeks of flip-flop wearing weather are always welcome. I hope that it doesn't break into a full-blown Midwestern America-style summer, though. Watermelon and corn on the cob are far too expensive here for that!!!