A Minnesota Midsummer’s Dream

Okay, the worst is over, at least for me. The traumatic Summer Solstice that I dread so much has come and gone, its damage is done. It’s time now to relish the short time left until the first flakes of winter arrive.

"Up North"

You know, I'll bet you get this a lot too: "How can you  live in Minnesota with those winters?!" I know I've heard that from people in other states and countries ad nauseam and I'd like to say, "you know you can always put on clothes to stay warm but you can only take off so much to keep cool until the neighbors call the cops." Instead I now have a rote response: "I have literally been around the world and visited all but two continents and I have never been anywhere better than Minnesota between the months of May and October. (okay, mid-October.) Yup, that leaves six months that are, uh, less great - hey, no place is perfect! - but's it's these magnificent hazy, lazy days of summer that keep me here. In my opinion, if you will forgive some projecting, I think that's why a lot of us live in Minnesota. In my particular case, and despite any issues we may have here today, also living in the Twin Cities. There are many reasons why but let me share just three.

NOTE: I know there are a lot of people who enjoy mukluks, parkas, slippery sidewalks and sliding down hill on boards. I hope you will bear with me.

Ha, I’ll bet you thought I was going to mention golf first. Well, guess again!

On my daily walk, Cedar Lk, 1/2 mile from my house

One of the best things about summer here in general is the fact that it never disappoints. (Well, almost never - thanks a lot Oh Canada!)) We freeze our butts off - up to which we are in snow - during the very loooonnnnngggg winter months. Begging, pleading, praying to make it to the point where we only need an overcoat and gloves and soon thereafter to turn on the air conditioner - at which time we start whining about the heat (but that’s for a different post.) Still, we may not always know when it will come but it always does - the Carly Simon song "Anticipation" comes to mind.

Of course, some are better than others but they are always great. Most northern states might try to make this claim but other states aren’t Minnesota or the Twin Cities. Want to go sit by a lake? Drive half an hour in any direction. Like world class summer entertainment or food? A nearby big city has it. Want to fly non-stop to some great vacation spot? Ditto above. Want to visit the greatest of the Great Lakes? Hop in the car, head two hours north to Hwy 61 and you’re on one of the most beautiful drives in the entire world. Is all this worth the pain of our winters? You'll have to judge for yourself but I believe that if one has to live where there is a real winter then this is the place to be in summer.

Next, yes golf is another reason that I love summer here.

 

  No escaping it, all of these guys have
really gotten old on me

I have bored you enough with past stories about golf so I will restrain myself. We fools, er, golfers are blessed with a ton of great courses here in Minnesota - and they do not require selling your first born child to play them like so many other places. I will only say that very little can beat standing on the first tee of any of a plethora of beautiful Minnesota courses, surrounded by your (mocking) buddies with the soft morning sunshine and a light breeze on your face. Ahhh. 

(Then, of course, you knock one into the woods!)

Golf in Minnesota, like summer here itself,  has a short shelf life making it that much sweeter when we play. 

(Yeah, since we have been going south in the winter I can play pretty much all year round but nothing compares to playing here with friends.)

Now for my number one reason. (You better sit down and prepare yourself, this might shock you.)

But first a back story.

When we moved to our humble little abode in the Bryn Mawr area of Mpls some 13 years ago the place needed a little love, inside and out. Okay, a lotta love. Outside, Mrs Dear Leader took over the job of giving our weed-infested garden new life and did so with great success. I, of course, took over managerial duties.

Garden when we moved in

Garden today. I can't take all the credit. (Okay, I just water it.)

Now to further digress, we also decided we wanted a patio. First, we put up a wooden privacy fence. When we started our neighbors weren’t too thrilled but I assured them once they got to know us they would be very happy. (I might have also suggested that sometimes I liked to sunbathe naked.) They were great neighbors after that. “Were” because the creeps recently moved away - although replaced by a great younger version of them.

Hang in there this is actually going somewhere . . .

Keep in mind I like to think of myself as thrifty - although Mrs. DL might use a different word with a kinda mean adjective attached. 

So another neighbor had a bunch of flagstone left over from some project just sitting there. Light bulb goes off above thrifty Dear Leader's head. They have a young son who, unbeknownst to him, looked like he could use piano lessons. Mrs DL teaches piano. Eureka, trade lessons for flagstone! It worked out great; we got a crash course on how to lay a patio and the kid turned into concert pianist.  Okay, not really but he's great on "Chop Sticks." Anyway, it's a little uneven (the patio, not the kid) but it has character. (Both do.)

Untapped potential patio

Potential Tapped

In conclusion, despite my reputation as a very cosmopolitan metrosexual (a term I hope I understand correctly) I am a simple man; my favorite thing in summer (and don't laugh) is simply sitting on our little patio. 

Who you looking at?!

On every decent day after my evening bath (like the ones my mom had to fight with me once a week to take but which is now a daily ritual I can't miss) with my faithful dog Prudie,  I head out to the patio. Then, with cocktail in hand and playing tunes from my wasted youth just loud enough not to disturb (I hope) my neighbors, we sit in the shade of a couple majestic oaks, a soft evening breeze and clouds drifting by like young men without a care in the world. All to ponder the wonder of Minnesota summers. Well, I ponder summer, not sure what Prudie is pondering. (Perhaps her metrosexual human dad?)


                                       

It simply doesn't get better than this

Then after we've pondered a while, Mrs DL usually joins us or maybe a neighbor wanders over. I can honestly say this is why I live in Minnesota.

Besides the relative brevity of summer, my time on the patio on these lovely summer evenings is getting more precious for other reasons too. Prudie and I are both in the "late autumn" of our lives so who knows when our patio days will be . . .   Nevermind, all the more reason to enjoy them now! (As Mrs Dear Leader says, there's no need to borrow trouble.) 

Anyway, I apologize for this long-winded way to say that I think our summers more than make up for our winter and is the reason that I live here (most of the year.) And it will almost certainly be from whence I head to the Big Golf Course in the sky. 

I hope you enjoy the rest of your beautiful Minnesota summer doing all the things that keep you here.  Remember, the days aren't getting any longer, you know!

Summer Tunes - I couldn't decide on one . . . 

Summertime and the Living is Easy   Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong

Hot Fun in the Summertime   Sly and the Family Stone

And you cannot talk about summer without this . . .

Summer Breeze    Seals and Croft