7.07.2015

Summertime and the living is easy?

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With all due respect to the writers of the above famous lyric, I beg to differ.

I hate summer. I hate heat, I hate the blazing sun, and, most of all, I hate humidity. It's safe to say summer is not my season. I know that puts me in a small minority. Possibly of one?

Nothing about me is conducive to enjoying summer. My skin is so pale that I could easily pass for a corpse, and tanning is not something it is capable of. The only color my skin can turn is lobster red. I have thick, curly hair that hates humidity as much as I do. Five minutes outside in July and my carefully coiffed curls are transformed into a frizzy clown wig. Even my feet hate summer, as nearly every pair of sandals I have ever owned has given me blisters.

While most people look forward to the standard summer attire of shorts and tees, I cringe with embarrassment at the thought of exposing my blinding white legs. I loathe leaving work and getting into my car when it has been roasting in the parking lot all day. The inventor of air conditioning is one of my personal heroes.

One of the few things I like about summer is baseball, yet this year my Reds are so pitiful that they have merely increased my seasonal grumpiness.


My hatred of summer played a big role in the development of my latest novel, Polar Day. After writing my debut novel Polar Night around the winter solstice and the Arctic phenomenon of 24 hour darkness, I became interested in writing a sequel about the opposite extreme. When reading about summer in the book's setting of Fairbanks, Alaska, I was horrified at the thought of a sun which never has the decency to set. When I read about an extraordinary summer heatwave that was baking Fairbanks, it was easy to imagine the primary horror facing the people of my story. What else could it be but fire?

Fortunately, unlike the people of my book, I've never had to face the terror of being burned alive. The only burning I've had to deal with is from the sun. But I still count the days until I can say goodbye to summer.

October is far and away my favorite month of the year. I love the cool, crisp air and I love being able to cover my ghostly pale limbs with jeans and hoodies. I love football, the shorter days, snuggling under a toasty blanket, and hearing the leaves crunch under my feet when I take my dog for a walk. In short, I love everything about autumn.

To quote Green Day and wrap this up with another lyric, this one much more suited to my personality, "wake me up when September ends."

12 comments:

  1. Not on your own at all.
    I hate, loathe and despise the sweaty season. Which is where our Christmas falls. NOT my favourite holiday.
    Polar Night (which I loved) sang loudly to me on all sorts of levels. Fire/burning/heat feature too often in my nightmares.
    And on the other side of the world I am revelling in winter. Come on down...

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  2. Frizzy clown wig - that made me chuckle.
    You are not alone! I hate heat and humidity. Can't step outside without needing a shower five minutes later. Give me the cold anytime.

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  3. My partner, who is a red head, tans better than me. I used to love summer. Now, it doesn't agree with me . Hot temps make me ill. So I'm counting down the days until I put on jeans and a cozy warm sweater.

    The Red Sox aren't doing so well this season either.

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  4. I hear you. I'm not a fan of summer either. It it stayed around 78, I'd be OK with it. But it never does.

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  5. I'm with you! The heat and humidity make me ill. If I could, I'd hibernate through the summer. The weather can't make up its mind around here. It's either really hot or rainy and warm. Is it fall yet?!

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  6. You're not alone. My hubby isn't a fan of summer either. He likes fall the best. It's kind of funny too because he's from Mississippi so you'd think he'd shrug off the heat, but nope, it hits 70 here in Michigan and he's ready for the AC.

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  7. @EC, you made my day saying you loved Polar Night. Thanks! And I would love to take you up on your offer to come there and enjoy the winter. If only!

    @Alex, agree 100%. I actually enjoy most cold weather, as long as it doesn't go totally extreme and end up below zero, etc.

    @TB, I have lots of family members who are Red Sox fans and they aren't happy either. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sox turn it around though. The Reds are totally doomed though LOL.

    @Mary, yeah, I love temps in the 70s. with no humidity - perfect.

    @Christine, I would also hibernate! Wish we could LOL.

    @Patricia, oh that is funny. He's even worse than I am with the ac then LOL.

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  8. I am on the whiter shade of pale:) I mentioned once to a friend of mine who can tan so nicely and her non tan look is how I would look if I ever got a real tan, that i had a tan. She didn't believe me until i took my watch off. Her look said it all. The other issue I have are my upper thighs and arms. It is sad that when i wave my upper arm keeps going after i stop. This can be hidden with sweaters. I also have 2 thighs that can't stand being apart so they always touch and in summer it just feels icky. i wear many capris but it can be too hot for this. When I wear a skirt it is cooler but my thighs then speak to each other. i don't like weather where I can't breathe due to the steamy heat. In winter I can bundle up and look like Nanook of the North and feel cozy. In summer if I go naked, not only would I be arrested and still hot but I will have turned many people to stone from looking at me:)

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  9. I don't care much for summer, although I dislike the driving in the snow/ice more. I don't see how people live in humid climates like Florida. As soon as I stepped outside in Florida, my hair frizzed. It doesn't do that nearly as bad in Virginia.

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  10. @Birgit, you're too funny. I have the same issue with my thighs talking to each other LOL.

    @Cherie, I do hate the winter driving but I still love the cold temps. I couldn't handle Florida or anywhere else in the South. I went to New Orleans once and the humidity almost killed me LOL.

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  11. Interesting to set a novel and it's sequel around a particular extreme weather. I used to dislike summer but I've grown to like it. I get lots of writing t ing done during it, plus I travel.

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  12. @Catherine, I do like summer better when I get to travel. That may be adding to my grumpiness this year as so far I've stayed at home.

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