The Heart of Summer

August is here. I have to admit, it’s hot. VERY hot. The kids are fighting, the van’s air conditioner is just marginally working, my hair is frizzy and the bugs are starting to get annoying. Did I mention how hot it is? It’s hot in a sultry way – how when you look out over the farm fields the air looks like it’s rippling. Late summer hot. And humid too.

My mood has been similar.

But enough complaining. This month only comes once a year. And when February rolls around, I know I'll be longing for the heart of the summer.

August is the month where summer on long island really resides. The difference between August and July is visceral for me.

The flowers are blooming in a crazy overgrown way. Bright yellow bunches of black-eyed Susans flanked by huge blue hydrangeas are my favorite combination. Bee-balm, Verbena, and the bright pink Hibiscus are also magnificent. Butterfly bushes, both purple and white, gently sway in the wind and are surrounded by all different types of the shrub’s namesake.

The strong scents of these flowers capture me each time I walk in my own yard.

And there are the views of the farms. The corn fields are full and green. I love when the farmers plant the corn at different times, so that the harvest is spread out. You see three, four or sometimes five different stages -from the smallest to the fullest grown - in one field! There are the perfect rows of grapevines in the vineyards. When it’s hot and humid like this, a subtle fog lingers over the tops of the vines. I love the north fork so much this time of year – even the sod farms, the deepest greens with their huge sprinklers shooting out above them, are beautiful.

The sun is setting earlier in the day, but the sunsets are so rich, I don’t even mind. Maybe the scientist in me knows that it’s the heavy air in the atmosphere that causes this, but the huge glowing sun sinking in the sky still gets me every night. The sky at twilight gleams pink long after it’s gone.

The flavors: I have a CSA (community Supported Agriculture) share at Garden of Eve organic farm. And now it’s really paying off. I received three different kinds of tomatoes today – plum, yellow cherry, and these adorable little currant tomatoes. The flavor of freshly picked summer tomatoes is incomparable for me – sweet and tangy and rich and fruity. It is “the taste of summer,” I told my kids at dinner. (Yes they looked at me as if I was old and corny and a little pitiful).

But it is.

The heat of August holds sweet memories for me, too. My husband and I met in early August, at a wedding in Glen Cove. We were both spending the night at the same hotel and if it weren’t for the late night heat, we might not have spent so many hours dangling our feet in the pool, or strolling under the Beech trees getting to know one another – falling in love.

My first child was born in August (5 years after I met my husband – to the day!) I’ll admit, the sultry atmosphere was probably lost on me in August of 1996, (let’s face it, it’s pretty hard to romanticize 27 hour of labor), but every year since then, celebrating my son’s birthday has been a very special occasion for me. And even as I sweat through cake cuttings and clown breakdowns, hot humid summer days will always make me think of birthday parties in the backyard.

I can’t neglect to mention the beach. I love to be there late in the day, when many people head home and the breeze picks up. I love to gaze out over the sound and listen to the water roll over the pebbles. I love the north shore – I grew up swimming in the sound, in bays and harbors. But I also love the ocean – the sound of waves crashing is what peace sounds like to me.

So tomorrow, when I’m traveling to yet another far-away family occasion, I will try not to moan about the bickering in the backseat, or the glare of the sun working against my poor old van’s AC. I’ll patiently blow dry my bangs and sip my bottled water, and I’ll let the sights, smells, feelings and memories of August fill me up.

I’ll relax and try to exist right here - in the heart of summer.