Monday, 6/21

 Great. Now it's all downhill from here.

That's not normally the way I would greet the first day of astronomical summer, my favorite time of the year, but in one small aspect it's true. Yesterday was the longest day of the year (here in Marquette almost 17 hours of daylight). Starting today the days get shorter.

We're already on the glide path to winter and it's not even the end of June yet.

I'm kidding, of course. I mean, not about the fact that the days start getting shorter today, because that actually is true. But what I am kidding about is the fact that winter is on the way. Sure, it's only 45 degrees and raining today (!), but that can be par for the course, even for this time of the year. Because of things like Lake Superior and the fact that we're so danged north some people don't even think that “summer” starts until July 1^st. Yes, meteorological summer starts June 1^st and astronomical summer starts today, but there are many Yoopers who don't believe summer starts until July 1^st.

I live among a strange group of people, in case you haven't figured that out yet.

But no matter when you think summer starts (for the record, it's June 1^st, and that's the only correct answer) the reason that we get so worked up about it and the start date for it is that it's fleeting. In many places of the US you get nice weather five to eight months of the year. Here we get two solid months—three in a lucky year—and it's that short length that makes us so passionate about it. We can disagree over when it starts; the one thing we can't argue about is how ding-dang short it is.

So that's why even a stupid fact like the days getting shorter cause us to joke about the oncoming rush of winter. We know it's coming, and we know it'll be coming sooner than most of us wish. Now, it's just up to us to make the most we can out of summer, now that it's here.

Because we all know it won't be here for long.

(jim@wmqt.com)