You all know I love the winter. You can find me playing in the snow whenever the opportunity presents itself. I'm also a theoretical Spring and Fall girl. This means I like the two weeks in the Spring when the trees are all blooming before a giant windstorm busts in and blows all of the blooms off when it isn't mud season. I also like the five days of true Fall where all of the leaves have finally turned, the temps have dropped, and that same bastard windstorm blows all of the leaves off of the trees.
The one season I loathe? Summer. Because summer isn't like it used to be where you'd have a few hotter than average days. It's an assault of heat, humidity and me staying inside in the A/C because paddling or any other activities are too friggin' hot to do. I would move somewhere cooler but there is no such thing anymore because everywhere is hot. But I know it's coming, so I'm going to try to mentally prepare for it.
Grillin' and Chillin'- I bought a monster grill last year, and I barely used it because by the time everything got situated, it was consistently too hot to be outside. I know we got summer heat way earlier than normal last year so I have to go under the assumption it will be the same this year. I need to grill out at least one day a week, not just so I can justify having spent so much on it but to actually use the patio we fought for last year. I would like to spend at least a morning or two out there before the heat comes in so I can just enjoy a little peace, unlike last year. Did I ever mention three days after the patio was finished they started construction on a building literally in our backyard that had Earthquakes, banging/digging/sawing and mounds of dirt and debris flying all over our patio and my car until the snow flew? Yeah. God laughs.
Sunscreen- I need to chuck out the old and buy the new. My favorite is Trader Joe's SPF 50 and I would put it on before every walk last summer. I got a very light base going, but I wouldn't call it a "tan" and I'd say after 4 solid months of walking in the sun and a few paddles, it works pretty well. If I want to keep wrinkles and skin cancer at bay, I can't start the season without it and neither should you! (Well, we should wear it all year round.)
Plan- I did this last year but need to keep watch on the weather and the winds so that we can get out on our board/kayak. We had a very windy and stormy summer, so I think we only got out three times last year. I'll have to keep in mind we can road trip and check conditions within a few hours around us too.
Tunes- Because we're in close quarters with neighbors and I sure as heck don't want to hear their music, I make sure to keep ours low. So instead of blasting it from inside, we use this Bluetooth speaker. It has a nice, rich sound and keeps a good connection. If the one neighbor purposely opens the door to listen to our conversations like he did at the end of the summer, I'm going to download something with a lot of sitars or foreign language yodeling and point it at his door.
Invite others- We have enough space to entertain another couple maybe two if we added our outdoor folding chairs. We used to get together with family for every holiday when I was younger including Memorial Day but haven't done that for probably 17 years. I can't fit all of our family, but I can fit most of the ones I like. 😁 I'm thinking of doing that this Memorial Day and see who bites.
These things won't turn me into a summer lover, but hopefully, it'll help me enjoy the 4-5 months of hellish heat that will unleash sooner than I like.
How do you prepare for your least favorite season?
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I hide from the heat too. This summer though, I'm going to make a much bigger effort to get outside and do stuff despite the heat. I have a small pop-up pool in the backyard that we barely used last year, like you I barely grilled, and my town has a great public pool. With a little bit of planning there are some pretty nice lakes within about a 90 minute drive.
ReplyDeleteMy least favorite season is wind. So around here that's pretty much year round. I can manage cold, rain, snow, even heat, but wind just makes me grumpy and stirs up my allergies and gives me a headache.
I have body sunscreen that works well, but I'm still on an ongoing search for the perfect face sunscreen. I want it to not be greasy, and I want to not sting my eyes when I sweat (because I'm going to sweat). My make-up has sunscreen in it, but I don't wear it on weekends or summers so I have to be more conscious of using something else daily.
Ughness... I don't enjoy summer heat or snow and ice in the winter. LOL I can take the cold, but not bad driving conditions. In summer, I pretty much make sure I run my errands early, and always cut the lawn early so I'm not out in the heat of the day. Same thing with walking the dogs. It's either very early or we don't go.
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