Illustration by D. Tarnowski.
Summer is closing down shop like your mom’s beach house on Cape Cod. I have not been to the beach this summer therefore I have not been to Cape Cod. I usually like to go and hang out in the dunes but if there is one time I like going to the beach and hanging out in the dunes, it is the fall. Anyone want to hang out on the beach in the dunes, have our cheeks get red from windburn and drink mimosas with the seagulls this fall?
Summer is on its way out as evidenced by the smell of the air as well as the air’s feel. Temperatures are dropping; the other night I almost wanted a long sleever. The change in the seasons is coming, though when I was younger, I felt like the seasons changed with more like the flick of a switch quality, like one day we were swimming and the next we were tossing and turning in piles of leaves.
While summers used to mean something to me, they mean a lot less than they once did. In my life these days I lack a sudden change, similar to the one of going back to school or getting a new job, so the only transition for me is the change in the sun’s path through the sky. More on that on Monday, when we discuss Dan and I’s favorite season, fall.
Summer is often argued as the best season because it is hot. One does not have to wear much clothing, and summer is the best time to hang out in moderate to large bodies of water. It is also a great time to hang out in the shade and read books and the summer has an overall more relaxed feel to it than other seasons do. The winter can be very relaxing if spent next to a fire, but many people prefer the summer to the winter, especially if they are not into winter sports or the cold.
In the Northeast, it is interesting how we can hang out in the same places in the winter as those we can in the summer. I guess what I am really interested by here are the seasons themselves and how these seasons change the landscape and environment. Why would anyone want to live in a place with an infinite summer? Doesn’t that sort of take the point out of it? Isn’t what makes ‘summer’ summer, summer? When’s the last time you saw summer three times in a row? Or four times for that matter?
Summer is wonderful. The way the sun feels on early summer days is the best; I want to drink that sunlight. After clouds of spring, the summer sun flashes into our lives like an atomic blast, and blurs out the cold and rain to surround all with heat. My only gripe with summer is that it is too warm. But the greenery is in full bloom and alive after dormant winter months, and the visual change and filling of the world with color is enough to set my heart ablaze.
Keep in touch. Don’t ever change. And enjoy your summer!
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5 comments
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September 7, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Sean
yea. Summer has a definite feel to it. As do all the seasons. Without the sour, the sweet ain’t as sweet. The older I get I feel like eventually I would want to settle in the northeast because that is what I would miss most; the seasons. I’m not sure if it’s because of the nostalgic feeling of wandering the woods, or raking leaves, or coming inside for hot chocolate after a serious day of sledding. But seasons will always play a supporting character in my life. Maybe it’s just what we’re used to when we’re growing up. It’s something that will always stay with us. Like a person growing up near the beach will probably long for that soothing redundant sound of waves crashing. I’ll always want clear lakes to swim in, and a place where I can throw snowballs.
September 8, 2009 at 7:30 am
john
I always think summer is the best season of all. By far. But after the onslaught of August. year after year, I’m excited about fall.
September 9, 2009 at 3:07 pm
onlives
Summer is a great season especially compared to it’s counterpart winter. It is interesting to think about temperature graphs, that probably look a lot like sine curves when plotted, high points and low points. The seasons are also opposites: Two are hot and cold, and two go from hot to cold and cold to hot. Though these seem like simple observations, they are blowing my mind right now. I guess I just never thought to look at them that way.
The summer to fall transition is the best.
September 9, 2009 at 3:01 pm
onlives
Great imagery and feelings. Can you imagine a person who did not grow up with discernible seasons? I feel they miss out on something serious.
There is a lot of nostalgia associated with the seasons. A movie that takes an interesting twist on the seasons is Requiem for a Dream and as the story follows the characters through different times of their lives in terms of their drug use, habits and addictions, things go from being great in the summer to utter hell in the winter. As to what happens in spring in that movie, it’s anybody’s guess.
The seasons provide an interesting backdrop for us to live in and in the changing of the earth, we find change in ourselves.
October 12, 2009 at 6:06 pm
On Lives · On Fall
[...] Summer is sunlight, warm breezes and lemonade, beach walking and ocean diving and everything in between. The ‘u’ in summer almost emphasizes that it’s the end, or at least that’s how I’ve always seen it. [...]