I'm speaking here not of baseball, but of the Summer Suburban Lawn Olympics when more toxic chemicals are laved on subdivision grass than on the pastures surrounding Fernald. And every evening, sprinklers whisper. Summer is when all your friends go on reasonable vacations, such as Cumberland or Michigan, leaving you with your dignity and the tacit understanding that you could do the same if you wanted. Summer is baseball. And tennis and golf and miniature golf and swimming and fishing.
Tomatoes taste like tomatoes again.
It's when the organized fun stops and the real fun begins. It's porches and decks and swings and parks and fountains and soft ice cream. Summer also is nearly perfect politically. Which is to say that most of our elected officials elect to take a summer recess and can do no further harm until fall. Summer is when we reacquaint ourselves with our neighbors.