“Don’t know why / There’s no sun up in the sky / Stormy weather.” – “Stormy Weather,” by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler
I have been humming that song for the past six or seven weeks off and on. The humidity is off the charts. My garden is overgrown and the buds on my flowers are begging for consistent sunshine. I have read a lot — so much that the librarian knows me by name when I run into her at the supermarket. Television? When it comes to TV, I am not a steady viewer. Commercial TV never really appealed to me. I miss the quality Walter Cronkite would deliver in 30 minutes. Gosh, I remember running home from school to catch “American Bandstand.” My sick days were spent watching “I Love Lucy” and Julia Child’s “The French Chef.” Today? Well, as Springsteen sang in 1992, “57 channels and nothin’ on.” (Only today it’s 570 channels and there is still not much on.)
I remember when I relocated here some 25 years ago. People would ask me, Maine? Why Maine? Isn’t it cold there? I would always reply that the seasons offer their own charm but there isn’t a better place on Earth to spend summers than in Maine. So far this summer? It’s not exactly the charm I was referring to.