Give me one good reason. Quick, now, or I'm moving to Australia until October. Tell me what summer is good for.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Answers

Ok, maybe not why we need it, but why I love it?

swimming
wakeboarding
houseboat renting
laying on a raft
smelling like coconut
drinking fruity umbrella drinks
beaches
a longer day to walk the dog, wash the car, read a book on a blanket in the park
touching the hot bare skin of the one you love
natural color in your face
natural highlights in your hair
sore muscles in your calves from walking on uneven sand
tide pools
new freckles
losing those five pounds of winter weight
getting to wear as little clothes as possible (no bulky jackets!)
riding with the windows down

I love summer. Summer has always been my favorite time of year. Even more so now that it means spending two weeks at home in California with my family.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Shit......there were line breaks in there, I promise.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

We need summer because we have *so* much winter. We were snow covered from Thansgiving to Easter this year. Seasons are good, really! And we have an extra one here in NH called mud season -- that one I could do without.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Mental Health, recharging, major attitude adjustment, rest, to catch up on all of the things I don't get to do during the school year, warmth, time for the brain to heal itself, and a regeneration of patience. (I am a teacher I live for the summer)

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Baseball.

Sorry, Beth. Have a good time in Australia.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

For me, a break from waking up every morning creaking like the Tin Man, and from having to get three kids ready for school at the same time I'm trying to get myself ready for work.

(That said, I still prefer spring and fall)

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

17 hours of daylight!

There's nothing more depressing than going to work in the dark and then coming home in the dark.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Because snow on the 19th of May is fun, unless you don't want your trees to collapse or your tomatoes to die. Because in the summer you can swim outside. Because in summer trees explode with leaves. Because when it's 95 and the sun melts your bones, you remember the feeling of playing in the snow. Because seasons are great.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Hmm. I'm just not convinced. I'm an obsessive sunscreen girl, so no new color in my face or anywhere else. There's no snow here anyway. It's too hot to do any of that fun stuff you guys mentioned, unless you do it before eleven a.m.

I wonder how much it would cost to split every year between here and Australia, and never have to see summer at all?

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Beth, if you want to escape the heat, you don't have to go all the way to Australia! Here in SF, it's currently in the fifties and overcast.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

I'm with Jen on this one - the light. I love it. I love waking up and seeing the sun coming up, i love coming home with the sun still out, it's great.

As for me personally, well, i live in Canada dammit. After the winter here, trust me, you embrace the summer.

I just wish there was a way to avoid the humidity. Heat is good, humidity sucks.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

I grew up in the swamps of Louisiana, where it quite often hit over 100 degrees during the course of the April-September summer, with 95% humidity (or more). So I never saw the point of summer, either, except that it meant No School.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

I normally love summer, but here's what sucks right now. In over 100 degree temperatures, for my fucking outdoor sculpture class IN THE AFTERNOONS I have to be outside on a very nasty weedy dead lawn, with no shade, no water, and a whole lotta glare, for hours at a time waiting for the teacher to come check on us. We end up leaving after she does because it is so fucking hot we can't really work.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Long days. Hot weather. Walking around with as little on as possible.

I can't help you, Beth. I'm a summer lover from way back. I wonder why we need to have winter.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Don't know about anyone else, but summer is the only time my allergies leave me alone. I think the sun burns up all the pollens. Fall, winter, and spring wipe me out. And it gets worse every year. I'd rather be hot than wheezing. You can always get a fan.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

Longer days...flowers. The smell of honeysuckle. The smell of OUTSIDE as opposed to the nasty, stinky, smoke and printer ink filled building I have to work in every freakin' day. Green grass that I don't have to mow. Lightning bugs. The sound of toads and frogs and crickets on a summer night. Barbecues! The memories of summers past as a kid. Fresh fruit in season like cantaloupe and strawberries and watermelon!

I love summertime. I love every single thing about it even the 100% humidity on a 100 degree day in eastern NC. In my heaven, it's summer all the time.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

We don't need summertime. That's why I moved to a place that doesn't have it.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

We don't. Well, not more than a week or two, to remind us why spring and fall are so great. I live in a city, so summer is humid, smelly, and smoggy. And there's only so much clothing you can take off.

All the things that are nice to do in summer, like biking, and picnicing, and going for long walks, and not wearing 5 layers of clothing, are even nicer to do in spring and fall, when it's fresh and cool.

102 degrees? 38 C? That's too fucking hot. Especially in May, but in general too. If it gets to 32 (um, 89.6F) here (Toronto), we all wilt. Today it's 14 (57.7F), which is a little cool (the normal temperature is 20C (68F)). You can stay with me if you want to visit. :)

I am the parentheses queen! Amy

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

We need summer for us poor folks in Wisconsin who don't want to deal with twenty below weather year round.

That, and ice cream businesses would have to shut down because summer is their big season. And the world would be a sad place without ice cream.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

Silly me, I forgot about the most important reason for summer, at least here in New England. Road repair. Damn. Just took me forever to drive what should have been a two hour drive to the train station. Almost 4 instead. I hate bright orange road repair signs.

It's rainy and cool in NYC though -- probably in the 50s. Spring is good.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

We don't need summer. Not at all. Only people in southern climes might understand the pain of a Sacramento summer. 100+ days for months. Pollution so bad the young and infirm are advised to stay indoors. And now with this whole power shortage we're doomed, we can't even leave the a/c off at home and go somewhere cool because all the stores are turning up the thermostats as well. I nearly melted in the grocery store last week.

I'm trying to convince everyone I know to move to Alaska.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I would still rather have my 120-degree-growing-up-in-the-CA-desert summers, than the humidity of the South. We never had A/C growing up, but I do sympathize with the blackout victims.

I still prefer the humidity and heat to winter though.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

Hi Laural. We're probably neighbors.

I had to ponder this because it's damn near summer here year 'round. It's rather hard to contemplate anything else. You swim through the humidity to the car, you grill yourself on the seats, bake until the a/c kicks in, you lie around trying to get the energy to do something, and that's just May. By August, you're a vegetable and you don't care.

Even so, I'm with Lynda -- the break from dealing with kids and school and all that running back and forth is a godsend and I'd be stark raving mad if it went all year. As it is, we have one more week (including finals) and I'm holding on by my fingernails.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001