A Silver Lining

I think I may have found a silver lining to Central New York...

Summer...

It took forever for Spring to hit Syracuse at all (we're talking almost June), but since then we have been blessed with some extremely gorgeous weather. And the locals say that it only gets better. A good friend has family here and says they refuse to travel in August because the weather is so nice.

Actually, I first noticed the shift on "Rapture Day", when I spent a glorious afternoon at the park, the air warm, the sky blue, the clouds unbelievably white, the water gently lapping the shore line, a good book in hand, and excellent paths to walk for miles. I had to stop and wonder if I actually had been raptured because the day was so perfect it could have been my heaven.

It seems to be a general consensus around here that you should spend as much time out of doors as possible. I think we were all so sick of being cooped inside all winter that the moment the ice and snow were gone and there was even a hint of summer in the air, people took to their porches, the streets, and the parks like lemmings. If I could spend every minute of these glorious days outside I would (darn jobs!).

The most noticeable difference between spring/summer in Central New York vs. Virginia/DC is the lack of humidity. I have never spent a summer in a place were the air is so comfortable. I even spent several lunch hours outside in the sun on 90 degree days and barely broke a sweat. My hair actually stands a chance here!

Overall, the days are often like a little piece of heaven for me and its easy to see why people live here (or other Winter-dreary cities with amazing Summers like Portland, OR). I bet the first settlers (non-native, of course) probably arrived in the summer and were in for a rude awakening come November. There also seems to be a danger of the harshness of winter fading into the background--kind of like a woman 'forgets' the pain of childbirth after its over. There's some term for it I can't seem to remember, based on the Roman underworld's river Lithe, where the deceased drank from the river and forgot all about the pain of their previous life.

I've decided that I need a good yearly dose of this wonder weather, and a few good parks to enjoy it in. The requirement has quite decidedly moved its way to the top of my 'where shall we settle' checklist. Now the key is to find a location that boasts the same glories of summer with a more tolerable winter.