Sunday, May 20, 2012

Don’t Let Summer Get Away from You

Summertime in Chicago is just too short. While Summer seemed to arrive early this year, a typical Chicago Spring is still chilly, rainy and outdoor unfriendly. Around May this changes and natives experiment with taking off the parka and downgrading to a simple pea coat.

Essentially you get June, July and August and then it's over. Even though the weather might be nice in September and even October, conventional wisdom defines Summer as the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

When June arrives you think: I have the whole summer ahead of me. Visions of attending baseball games, popular street festivals and hanging out at the beach come to mind. Maybe you’ve always wanted to check out Summer Dance or the Waste Taste of Chicago. Perhaps this is the summer you will finally bike to the Botanic Gardens. Excitement oozes over the new summer blockbusters.  In your summer fueled excitement you invite friends from out of town to visit so you have a legitimate excuse to check out Navy Pier.

Trips to Ravina for concerts under the stars get tossed around and plans are penciled in. 

Soon it's July and you're trying to figure out who's cookout to attend and where to see the fireworks. You still have a lot of summer left but you also realize that you have to make those plans a bit more concrete. Spontaneous plans to dine al fresco get formally scheduled for August because July is so overbooked. It really is time to fill up the bicycle tires already. Can we still catch those blockbusters at a matinee?  Is my friend arriving at Midway or O’Hare?

Then August arrives and you realize that you just have a few weeks to squeeze everything in! You have to choose between the concert at Ravina or the Best Street Fest of the Summer This Weekend.  That bike you never got tuned up sits there hoping you'll notice it.   What do you mean we missed Summerfest?

Before you know it, another summer has set sail and it's time to get the parka out of storage.  Those blockbusters are now available on Blu-ray.

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