Bob CollinsYes, you’ve found it. The only blog in America that doesn’t care if Barack Obama uses carrier pigeons or text messaging to announce his vice presidential running mate. As we in the media gear up to cover both political conventions, I worry we’ll also lose perspective about where these political factoids fit into the big scheme of things. Yes, the next leader of the free world is an important decision, but the process has been going on for more than two years, and there’s the old adage “people don’t care until after Labor Day.”
Why don’t they? Because they’re leading real lives.
The rest of us? We’re wondering what the heck happened to summer? I just saw May; it was around here somewhere a few minutes ago, and then I open up the newspaper this morning and find this: “With summer ebbing, pools about to close.”
In our little neighborhood, we’re required to pay for the use of a neighborhood pool, whether we use it or not. We haven’t been in years, not since I started calculating how much each trip to the pool cost me. But I had big plans for this year; I was going to stop by the pool every morning before work and get in shape. It didn’t happen… again.
Hope springs eternal, but eventually it falls apart. I was going to finish the rebuilding of the backyard deck this year — the project I started four years ago. The lumber is still in the garage, but I didn’t hammer a single nail over the summer. Again.
This was the year I was going to relax and pay more attention to the garden. I only planted peas and broccoli — cool weather crops that wouldn’t take up all my summer — but I never got around to checking how it turned out. Last week, my wife cut a small piece of the mega-broccoli (long since passed) and put it on my dinner plate. It didn’t taste very good.
I was going to build a rain garden and expand the perennial garden, which last year was a sea of bees and butterflies. This year? Not so much. Maybe next year.
Number of new bikes in the garage: 2. Number of summertime evening bike rides: 0.
So many plans, so few summer accomplishments.
And now the pools are closing, the State Fair is opening, and summer is ending.
How is it that summer can pass so quickly, but a presidential campaign plays out in torturous half speed?
I plan to think about that over the winter.
What was the highlight of your summer?
