The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: summer

  • Farmers’ Markets

    The farmers’ market in the small town where I just bought my house actually coincides with my regular day off. Yay! So my newest tradition is to go there every week while they’re open, June through September. It’s a delightful way to spend a summer afternoon. It beats the hell out of shopping at Walmart.…

  • Hot Pavement and Dogs

    At the time I wrote this it was 90 degrees in downtown Seattle. One of my tasks at work when it gets this hot is to measure the bridge gaps to make sure the metal hasn’t expanded so much in the heat that the bridge gets damaged by me trying to open it. So, I’m…

  • My Magical European Summer

    Recently, I came across a diary that I wrote when I was 19, and I read it for the first time since I wrote it. That summer was the high point of my life. (So far, at least. Who knows what the future holds.) I was traveling through Europe, and I was falling in love.…

  • O’Dark Thirty

    I’ve been in Seattle for two years now, and I’d like to think I’m adapting well. But as Autumn establishes itself, I start to feel as if I’m in a foreign country. I suspect that will always be the case. Not since I lived in the Netherlands have I experienced such extreme changes in daylight…

  • Emotional Spring Cleaning

    Yes, it’s the first day of summer, I get that. But it’s never too late to do some spring cleaning. Spring is a state of mind; a time for things to be fresh, vital, and new. I’ve been getting rid of a lot of stuff lately. My last relocation, of 3100 miles, pretty much burned…

  • Happy Winter!

    The term “solstice” always sets off a slight frisson in me. It evokes ancient rites and rituals, the customs of people we barely remember and are hard-pressed to comprehend. No matter what your spiritual beliefs or lack thereof, it’s hard to ignore the passage of time as indicated by the sun, our main purveyor of…

  • Seasonal Angst

    After 40 years in Florida, I must admit that I’m not really accustomed to the changing seasons. Up here in the Pacific Northwest, the days get a lot shorter in the winter. I mean, a WHOLE lot shorter, as in 7 hours less daylight (as opposed to a 3 hour difference in the Sunshine State).…

  • Portents of Summer

    Summer is only a month away, but as usual here in Florida we get it early. People envy us, until the temperature tops 100 degrees Fahrenheit with 100 percent humidity. Then, not so much. (And I want to know how it’s possible to have 100 percent humidity without having rain. Could someone please explain that…

  • Late Spring Fever

    Yeah, I suppose it’s a little early for this, but I’m feeling fidgety. I wish it were May. I want to get outside and feel the sun on my face and watch the flowers bloom. I want to curl my toes in some wet beach sand and taste the salt air on my lips. I…

  • Tony the Ice Cream Man

    When I was little, there was an ice cream truck that routinely visited the Connecticut projects where we lived. For people who couldn’t afford vacations, it was one of the few ways you could really tell that summer had arrived. That, and at the tail end of the baby boom the neighborhood was lousy with…