We’re coming up on the final days of June and the overnight lows are hanging in the 80’s. It’s part of what I’ve always disliked about the place I’ve always lived. I’ve never been a summer person. But, then again, I’ve never hated it enough to leave.

When this time of year rolls around I dream of altitude… the high mountains of North Carolina… the even higher mountains of Colorado. Elevation in summer is what makes my heart sing. Cool mountain breezes.

As I sit here, getting stickier by the minute, I dream of mountain cabins and covered porches.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s someting to be said for a yard with an elevational change of 3’… it’s flat. It is easier to navigate my aging knees around.

There is a breeze starting to stir. That’s always a good sign on a summer’s morning. Cattle egrets are beginning to land next door to begin looking for breakfast.

Someone, of in the distance, is starting to mow. It sounds like a tractor. In the other direction construction equipment is beginning to beep, beep, beep down at the new fire station the city is building.

And, over all of this, the coronavirus hangs. Coloring all perceptions of life, showing just how wrongheaded some people react to simple precautions. It’s the NRA Syndrome. If I’m being told to do anything I don’t want to do… you are infringing on my freedom. But, on the other hand, if I think something you’re doing is wrong to my way of thinking… it’s my right, no my responsibility to pass laws to make you conform. Even when my views are in a minority… everyone knows opinion polls are wrong, and everyone I knows believes just like I do… Really, you should live my life for awhile, in a place where my reality, while matching that of a majority of Americans, is not the reality as ascribed by the official thought police.

With that, I’ll leave you… y’all stay safe, stay healthy, wear a mask in public, and have a wonderful day…