Summer is not my favorite

but we are better friends so far this year

I know I’m taking a pause, but the summer solstice inspired a brief piece and it felt timely to share.

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On this summer solstice I am reflecting upon one of my less favorite seasons. Summer can be a challenge for me in many ways. I don’t care for heat. I don’t like to sweat while I’m standing around. I hate the sticky feel of sunscreen on my skin (since I try to avoid the chemical kind). My sleep is regularly disrupted by the 5am sun. I’m also not much of a fan of the bright colors of summer clothes, I’m a black, olive green, and burnt orange kind of gal.

Summer also has a get-out-and-do kind of feeling about it, especially living in a place where it’s our one break from the rain. While I like doing things, I also really like being home and going at a slow pace. I always breathe a little sigh of relief when Fall comes and I can go back inside.

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I said to my husband the morning of solstice, "it's all downhill from here" to which he gave me a disappointed twitch of his mouth. I, however, am unsure how I feel about the soon to be dwindling light. After all, thus begins the path to my favorite season, Fall.

I think Fall has always been my favorite season. It's hard, growing up in Vermont, for it not to be. When the hills become awash with color, excitement fills my blood. When every kid packs onto a bus to go apple picking instead of sitting in class, it's cause for celebration.

Having moved to Western Washington, these treasured aspects of fall have been harder to come by. Most of our apples are grown over in the drier eastern side of the state. While the stores are packed with Fujis and Honeycrips, I’d love to find myself a nice tart Jonathan or Cortland. Dragging my family up north to pick apples at a small farm didn’t quite turn into the yearly ritual it had been when I was growing up.

Being the evergreen state, there’s a lot less fall color. I’ve had to settle for a drive down past a nearby park to see a line of colorful trees. But I still love fall and I find little ways to soak it in from bits of color to the foods and clothes of the season.

The glory of my blueberry bushes in fall

The beauty of this place I live, however, really shines when the sun comes out , so summer can be a pretty magical time. The Mountain¹ will be “out” daily along with its snow-capped sisters. Everyone flees to the lakes and sound in this place with one of the highest number of boats per capita.

There’s rarely humidity here in the summer and the typical high is the the 70s so it’s not usually so hot (although that seems to be changing).

There’s an endless supply of places of hike and camp. This is the gorgeous spot my family backpacked to last summer. This shot doesn’t even capture the glacier out of view. I am regularly flabbergasted by the beauty of this region.

In the end, I seem to be finding more ways to appreciate summer despite fall still being my favorite. I am finding this year that I’m accepting summer even more. I’m appreciating the growing warmth. I am appreciating the various flowers as they bloom and the moment our Japanese maples become full of leaves. Of course, if the forest fire smoke is bad again in late summer, I’ll be back cursing summer again.

What is your relationship with summer? Is it a favorite season for you?

1. Mount Rainier