Almost Summer for a Day

 

 

 

 

What can compare to an almost-summer day-- a warm breeze, the shadows and the light through the leaves, iris flowers and peonies blooming!

So, open the windows, get out the summer chairs, put on the shorts and T-shirts. This is the kind of day we wait for all winter.

And even if the winter just past was not so bad as winters go, it was still dark and cold, still ice on the sidewalks and there were days of subzero wind chills--that was brutal. What will next winter bring?

No, no, don't think about that now.  Winter will come soon enough.  Now, let's fill our heads with summer things. Laundry drying in the breeze.  The sound of push reel mowers that almost sound like rain.  

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer in Chicago.  June 1 marks the official start of meteorological summer, and astronomical summer begins with the solstice on June 21. 

June 1 is also the beginning of hurricane season.  NOAA predicts a near-normal season with El Nino and warm Atlantic waters setting the stage.  There is a probability of 12-17 named storms,  and 1-4 major hurricanes.  You can read more, here.

But today,  Memorial Day,  is more than a holiday of grilling and mattress sales and no mail delivery. There are people working today.  There is remembrance of wars past, and those who died.  Remember them. Honor them, today.  

https://twitter.com/NOAA/status/166176686980617345?s=20

A thousand days in May

 

There's a line in a song about a thousand Julys, but what about all the days in May?

Yes, May Day, the first day of pagan summer. about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Now, the longest days are coming.

Days of increasing green, and days of lilacs, bluebells, bleeding hearts, lily of the valley, dandelions and violets, and buds on the peonies.

Days of nests and sparrows on the roofs.

and roofers on the roofs, carpenters building new steps, and painters painting garages. 

Days of blue sky and clouds of white flowers. Days of gray clouds and rain. 

The sound of  power mowers and push reel mowers that sound like rain. 

Days of two seasons, or three-- lake-effect cold fronts,  jackets in the morning and evening.   

And severe weather days-- thunderstorms,  high wind warnings, hail, tornadoes.  Snow and wildfires in Canada.  Weather patterns changing, and hurricane season approaching. 

And the plague is still with us. 

Even as WHO  has declared May 11 the end of the pandemic emergency, those with immune system issues, people over 65,  and essential workers are advised to get a second bi-valent booster now, just in case.

Still, the lilacs are blooming again!

I wish you fields of dandelion wishes, and lovely May days to come....