Summer! Love it, or Not?

Summer to many brings many delights - camping, boating, cottaging, summer sports, vacation; the list can go on. I like the warmer weather, not the hot. As seniors, we no longer camp - at least not in the heat of summer, maybe a few days in September or October. This past weekend we spent a pleasant day at a cottage of friends; the weather was warm, as was the water. It was delightful watching their grandchildren frolicking in the water; we did a bit ourselves. But the best part was sitting on the dock relaxing in friendly conversation with friends. To me that is what is special about summer. Another pleasure about summer is that friends or relatives may arrive from afar. In our case, we got home from the cottage at 10:00 p.m. to find a message on our machine from my cousin from  Saskatchewan is arriving the next day. I usually like more advance notice than 12 hours from visitors arriving from long distances. But we had a wonderful visit with him and his spouse, and had a chance to play tourist for a day as we scurried through the tourist parts of Ottawa. Company from far away is always nice.

What I don't like about summer, is the heat! I mean like 29 C and up; with those temperatures comes the humidity. In that kind of weather, I hibernate in my air-conditioned house. Many summers we go North to escape the heat, and that works for me. But you can only go North so many times; in our case it has been seven times now. We are NOT going North this year. The other thing I don't like about summer is the black flies or mosquitoes; it you go far enough North, you don't have any. Later we shall venture to Newfoundland for a short while. But in the meantime, I will redecorate our downstairs bathroom while I hibernate.