All of a Sudden... Summer

The rains have finally moved on, the temps have been rising, and in textbook fashion, all that water and sun have fueled a brilliant burst of green here in the Northeast. Lush park and lawn grass is a welcome old friend, but the mercury rising above 75 or so puts me into siesta mode rather quickly - and for a breed developed on the velds of Africa, Oscar is a mighty wimp when it comes to the heat. The poor beast's operating speed shifts down about 3 gears, and often stalls completely... it looks a lot like a nosedive: he buckles down in the front then flings his rear end and great barrel chest over into a satisfying flop onto one side - sprawling stretches and majestic rolling from side to side often ensue... Depending on how much time one has for a dog walk on any given day, this is either quite adorable, or crazy frustrating (because once his 95lbs are down, they're DOWN, and all prompts to get up are met with irritated grumbling). But regardless of our strolling snail's pace and unplanned pit stops, O-Town and I can't help but revel in the return of open windows, daylight well past supper time, and balmy evenings spent socializing on front porches, cool beverages in hand... Summer, it appears, is on.