Over at nicoleandmaggie's, there's a post about what seasonal activities people enjoy.
Here's ten things that I like:
1. The smell and feeling of the summer air, very early in the morning when it's still chilly and there's a bite to it so it's cold on your skin when you walk or run.
2. The smell of the summer night air in May, when there are lilacs.
3. The kind of conference where you're hearing about actual discoveries in your field rather than just interpretations of familiar lines of study.
4. The kind of conference where you meet new people but can also sit on a porch in the dusk after sessions are over for the day, watching fireflies and talking with old friends and colleagues.
5. Coming back from a conference and realizing, with deep relief, that you don't have to go to another one for a while.
6. Fending off, with a smile, recent retirees who are as eager as Crossfit enthusiasts or vegans to convert you to their way of life.
7. Walking on hills, because it feels so good when you're going downhill. Walking by water, for the negative ions or whatever makes you feel better. Walking in the woods with the smell of dry pine needles underfoot.
8. Staying off social media as much as possible and buying almost nothing online (see: Costco cult). Fun fact: the airports now show influencers on TVs at the gate rather than news so that you can learn tips that you have already known for decades, like how to make festive ice cubes, and you can watch YouTube stars as in-flight entertainment.
9. Reading actual books. My most recent read is Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road, which I read carefully twice. I know--another mid-century male--but he catches something about that time differently or in more depth than Updike or Cheever, and his evocative prose is not composed of chunky rocks.
10. Picking sun-warmed strawberries in the garden and eating them right then.
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