“It's a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer
(Leaving me) leaving me here on my own
It's a cruel, (it's a cruel), cruel summer
Now you're gone…”
--recorded by Bananarama, 1983
This is shaping up to be once of the cruelest summers I have every experienced and a lot of you can probably say the same thing. Thankfully, so far our family has avoided the cruelest fate of all this year, the COVID-19 pandemic. Ever since mid-March, we have been sheltering in place at our house.
Because I am over 70 and have a history of asthma and pneumonia, I am in the high-risk category. So, the only times I have gone out have been to take a short drive and stop occasionally at a drive through to pick up something to eat. Pam and I are fortunate that our son Brian is available to run errands for us and we purchase most of our groceries online using curbside pickup.
But, last Friday was “Black Friday” for a couple of reasons that made me even more depressed about the upcoming summer. First of all, we had several snow squalls on Thursday including one that left about a one-inch layer of wet, slushy snow on the ground on Friday morning. Not a big deal for us during the winter, by this is May! This snowfall tied the all-time record in Akron for the latest measurable snowfall.
Since I moved to Northeast Ohio in 1975, this is the first time I can remember we had a measurable snowfall in May. So that means, I’ve seen measurable snow here in eight of the 12 months of the year. Only June through September have been spared.
It has been much cooler and wetter than average from mid-April until nearly mid-May and the lack of good weather is contributing to my worsening case of cabin fever. It seems as if the clock has turned backwards and we are moving through March not May.
The other depressing thing is that the Cleveland Orchestra announced on Friday, May 9, that it is cancelling the summer season at Blossom Music Center. This world-class orchestra and concert venue has provided me with some of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. I was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to have a picnic dinner with Pam and friends on the lawn before hearing some great music.
Blossom is only about a 15-minute drive from our house and we have usually attended four or five concerts there each summer for the last 20 years or so. But, this summer the stage will be dark and the only sounds will be the birds chirping and the wind whistling through the trees and the empty pavilion.
Also, I usually attend about a half-dozen Akron Rubberducks baseball games each season in downtown Akron with a group of friends. We buy a couple of books of ticket vouchers and pick games as the season goes along. Our favorite night is “Thirsty Thursday” with two-dollar beers. It’s a lot of fun to hang out with a bunch of friends on a warm summer evening sipping a cold brew and enjoying baseball. Although the season hasn’t been cancelled yet, my money says it will be.
At this writing, nearly every summer event in Northeast Ohio including concerts, festivals and the like, has been cancelled. As the weather improves, I’m hoping to be able to meet friends outside where we can practice social distancing.
Because this summer is our 50th anniversary, Pam and I were planning a major trip to to Europe or possibly Asia to celebrate. Those plans are now in the dumpster. I didn’t want to risk flying home from Las Vegas in March, so I definitely won’t risk spending twice as much time in an airplane to travel overseas.
I hope we can take some short day trips later this summer if conditions improve, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, stay well and best wishes to all of you.
