Maybe the Summer Will Be Saved After All

For once I'm adding things to the calendar instead of taking them off.

I'm still totally and completely bummed that our Alaska cruise was canceled. We were supposed to leave tomorrow for a few days in Portland, Ore., followed by the cruise and than a couple of days in Seattle. Don't get me wrong, I understand why it had to be canceled and agree with the decision. It's still a major downer though.

Swim lessons have all but been canceled, festivals are off -- it was shaping up to be the summer that never was.

But the city is again in the process of approving block party permits, yay! We'll follow some pandemic-inspired changes and precautions, of course. But it looks like the party will happen after all, probably in August. It was supposed to be the first weekend in June, and as luck would have it, it was a perfectly beautiful day. I was rather hoping it would be rainy and miserable.

And we're hoping to have our annual crap swap (think a garage sale where everything is free, and you invite your friends to participate, too) later this summer. Maybe we'll have some fun this year after all.

Edith Learns to Swim

June 10, 2019 - That's Edith in the rainbow swimsuit!

One of Edith's proudest moments of the summer? Advancing to Level 2 in her swim lessons.

Although she has always liked the water, this has been her first real summer of swim lessons. And I mean SWIM LESSONS. This is her seventh straight week of the summer in the pool, 30 minutes each Monday through Thursday.

At the beginning of the summer she didn't want to get her head wet, and forget about going under the "mushroom" of falling water in the pool. Now she's proud of how many times she can bob her head -- more than a dozen, without a doubt. And she's finally getting the hang of floating on her back.

Swim tests are at the end of every two-week session, and she finally passed from Level 1 to 2 last Thursday. She was so happy, and frankly I was too. It's nice to have something concrete to show for the summer.

The Best Summer Kid Toy

The best kid toy for the summer is hands-down this: a squirt bottle.

No, not a squirt gun. A bottle, like a salon uses to wet your hair. My neighbor got one for her two-year-old, and my kids seemed to like it. After a trip to the Dollar Tree yesterday, we had two.

Those things kept Edith and Atticus entertained for at least an hour, watering plants and watering themselves. And the spray is so fine that when they inevitably watered me too, it wasn't even that bad.

Another bonus -- it holds a lot of water, so you're not refilling every two minutes. Nevertheless, their bottles were refilled at least twice. The squirt bottles are already a summer staple.

Busy July

And a busy month begins:

After work today I'm catching a bus to Philadelphia to spend the weekend with two of my three college roommates. More on that next week.

Next Saturday we're attending our first New York wedding, the nuptials of one of Paul's running/beer-brewing friends who lives in our neighborhood. The following day is my birthday and, ironically, one of the only weekend days in July that we don't have plans. I'm sure that will change.

The following weekend we're leaving on vacation: a full week in Halifax and Prince Edward Island, Canada. I hope it will be not only relaxing, but also at least 10 degrees cooler.

I'm mostly prepared: bus and airplane tickets purchased, car rental made, hotels reserved. The only things that aren't done are the things I'm purposefully waiting on: Do I need a new outfit for the wedding, or will I still be able to fit into my flowy black dress in a week? (I think I'll be fine, but I'm trying it on Tuesday or Wednesday and will make an emergency run to Century 21 if need be.) Do I need a new swimsuit for vacation? (Almost certainly yes, but I'm waiting until the last minute for that, too.)

The month will be exciting but full. Expect blog delays: especially the last full week of July!

Beating and Retreating from the NYC Heat

When the living room hit 93 degrees, it was time to turn on the air conditioner.

I had resisted all summer. I not only have a high tolerance for heat, but also get cold extremely easily. When others are comfortable, I'm wrapped up in a blanket. When others are sweating, I'm finally comfortable.

That's generally true, but not the past few days. Central Park hit triple digits, and Newark, New Jersey, even reached 108. The extreme humidity made it feel even hotter.

Our sole air conditioner is in our bedroom, so Paul and I have been camping out. On Friday night, we assembled turkey wraps with cold cuts and lugged our supper and laptop onto the bed and watched a few episodes of the first season of "Fringe" on DVD. Armed with books, newspapers and the laptop, I barely left the room for the next 20 hours.

On Saturday night we were invited to a backyard barbecue whose start time understandably got pushed further and further back as the forecast predicted higher and higher temperatures. By the time we arrived at 7 p.m., the sun had mostly set. Even when the sky was black, however, the heat and stagnant air made most people's drink of choice plain old water.

Sunday was cloudy and "only" in the high 80s in the mid-afternoon, a welcome reprieve. I even ventured into the living room for an hour or so earlier in the afternoon, but the indoor thermometer still read 90 degrees. I retreated into the bedroom.

This is only our fourth summer here, and each year there have been a few terribly hot, uncomfortable days (not so different from Ohio in that respect). Usually we've had a couple by now. The last few days, however, truly have produced record-breaking temperatures. But when it comes right down to it, does 95 really feel all that different from 105? Not when you're holed up in an air conditioned room.

Putting Our Feet Up at the High Line

The Longest Day of the Year Isn't Long Enough

Yesterday was the first day of summer and the longest day of the year.

But it still wasn't long enough for me.

Even though the sun doesn't set until well after the evening has begun here in Brooklyn, it still disappears before it does at home in Ohio. Besides our family and friends, the long days are probably what I still miss the most. I've gotten used to the Laundromat and I don't mind carrying my groceries anymore. Just give me the sun.

Late last week I got it into my head to do a formal comparison. According to timeanddate.com:

• New York sunrise: 5:25 a.m.
• New York sunset: 8:30 p.m.

• Toledo, Ohio, sunrise: 6:00 a.m.
• Toledo, Ohio, sunset: 9:12 p.m.

A full 42 extra minutes in northwest Ohio! Yes, I realize New York nearly makes up for that in extra sunlight in the morning, but when have I ever been awake at 5:25 a.m. to enjoy it?

Still, I don't want to complain too loudly. Winter -- and the shortest day of the year -- will be here despite my protestations before I know it.

The Summer I Think I Became an Adult

I graduated from Ohio State eight years ago today -- specifically, on Friday the 13th -- which means I could have gone to college twice more in the meantime.

I remember thinking at the time that I couldn't wait to get into the "real world," to actually apply the skills I'd honed. How idealistic. (And if I think that about myself now, I can't wait to look back in 8 more years. Or 58.)

Many people would say that adulthood starts that day, or perhaps when you graduate high school. I've always considered my entrance into adulthood, however, as starting midway between those two points, exactly 10 years ago this summer.

June 2001 was the first summer in which I didn't return to Defiance. Instead, I scanned the classifieds for a room to sublet and moved in with a handful of girls I had never before met. The 12th Avenue house just east of OSU was charming in a grungy sort of way. My tiny furnished room on the third floor was small, with an even smaller window overlooking the back. The acts at the nearby Newport Music Hall drifted into my bedroom all summer.

I had just made my largest purchase to date -- $2,000 to my parents for the 1987 Buick Century my sister Katie nicknamed "Smurfette" for obvious reasons once you saw the color. Katie and I had both driven it throughout high school, and I wasn't likely to get a better deal for a set of off-campus wheels.

Four days a week -- 30 hours a week -- I worked as a page at the Ohio Statehouse, specifically in the Clerk's Office of the House of Representatives. That's where I met Paul. We started dating a few weeks later.

Of course, if you define adulthood as paying all of your own bills, I wasn't quite there yet. It was around this time or perhaps the school year that followed that I started paying an increasing amount of my own rent, food and housing expenses. And when I visited home, Mom and Dad were always sure to send me back to Columbus with a full tank of gas. So I suppose my slide into adulthood was more like a kiddie coaster than Millennium Force.

By that September, I had found an apartment for me and three roommates to live in over the next year, Paul had left for 10 weeks in Mexico and, a few days after that, two planes flew into the World Trade Center.

Summer was over, I was 20 and I was no longer a kid.

New York City Through My Cousin's Eyes

My cousin Emily is a high school freshman and a talented photographer. When she and her family visited us in June, I was very eager to see her photos -- and to see New York from an outsider's perspective, how I must have seen the city three years ago.

I wasn't disappointed, as you can see for yourself. Thanks, Emily!

Little Italy

Our apartment, from below

Bay Ridge

On the subway. Foreground: Paul. Reflection in window: Aunt Annette, me, Emily

A Look Back on Summer 2010 in New York

The calendar doesn't yet say that summer is over, but Labor Day has passed and autumn might as well have arrived.

On that note, I have compiled some of my favorite summertime photos that didn't make it onto this blog in the last 4 months. On Friday: summer in New York City through the eyes (or at least the camera lens) of my cousin Emily.

Rockefeller Center

Paul, Times Square

Heartland Brewery

Cherries in Chinatown

Chinatown

Me, American Museum of Natural History

The saddest photo of the summer: The M train, which I used to take home from work, was rerouted and discontinued at Fulton Street. My commute home is now much more annoying!