SUN

My blog name came from characteristics of places where I feel most at home or which have in some way shaped me.  I thought I would spend a few blogs elaborating a bit more on each of the elements.

SUN:  I am a child of the sun.  Having grown up in the southwestern desert, I never knew what real seasons were until I was an adult and had moved away.  To this day I much prefer heat over cold, sun over clouds, dry over wet.  In the desert the sun bakes down almost daily year round.  The winters rarely get below 50 degrees.  The summers can be 110 or more depending on where you live.  Snow was a foreigner.  I loved the warmth – every sweaty degree of it.  I lived for the summers.  Still do.  I remember how my childhood summers were filled with swimming or tennis lessons, riding bikes or Slip ‘n Slide with neighbors.  Always outside!  Summers were camping trips and vacations.  Sunny days at the beach in San Diego.  Labor Day weekends at a resort in Phoenix, our last hurrah before a new school year.  Shorts, t-shirts and flip flops.  Popsicles melting down our arms.  Lemonade, iced tea.  Cloudless, blue skies.  Heat that was unrelenting, blistering, coming in waves.  Long evening drives when it was still 90 degrees.  Stopping for ice cream on the way home.  Sunburns and Coppertone.  Then there was the summer without sun when I lived in Michigan.  Rainy, cold, overcast – ALL SUMMER.  At that point I became aware of just how much I needed the sun.  For me it is relaxing, restorative, renewing.   It is home.

Coming soon:  SAND.

Quote of the day:  In summer, the song sings itself.  ~ William Carlos