♫♫Summer, Summer, Summertime♫♫

As triple digits become more the norm than a rarity here in Arizona and the Snowbirds scramble back up north to their summer habitats, I find myself longing for a small jaunt back up to the PNW. Although this "oven" climate doesn't bother me (puhleeze, I don't pull the shorts out here until it's at least 100 degrees!), I can't help but long for my darling Emerald City. Seattle just sparkles in the summertime! I, along with all the other Seattlites would count down the days to the solstice (although, regrettably, I never made it to the Fremont Solstice Parade). With it, summertime brought warm 80+ degree days, the sailboat gatherings on Lake Union on Tuesday nights that I so loved to watch, the early morning rowers I'd observe while stretching on a break during my weekday morning runs to Gasworks Park, the abundance of fresh local produce presented in the various farmers markets around town, and the significantly longer days. (See the photograph for an example of what I'm talking about. This was taken from the Seattle Times livecam. At about 8:30 the sun was still very much out while here it was already pitch black. Comes with the territory of not observing daylight savings time and being further south!) 

I've seriously been considering jumping on a plane in July to make the trip, but tickets are running about $500! (I'm soooo frustrated with the constant increase in gas prices and our stupid dependence on it!) Problem is, I have about 2 days of vacation left with a very slow accumulation of these precious hours and I am not taking any more when I have to work up to those crucial 18 days I will need come November. That leaves me with the necessity of flying over on a three day weekend, which is super expensive compared to flying out on a weekday. Oh well, it will just have to wait, along with my hankering for a Tini Bigs Sweet Dream Tini (my favorite alcoholic dessert and my favorite watering hole--my friend, Marianna and I were well-known here!)

On another note, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I got the book on Monday and finished it last night--I could not put it down! I ate the story up, but I'm regretting getting through it so fast because I'm hungry for more! I can't believe it's over!!!! I was so bored today when I got home, with no book to occupy my loneliness....and the library closed at 5 (poo!!!) I resorted to searching quite frantically for a trailer to the next HP movie. So pathetic......