Summer

Hailing from a humid land almost in the tropics, I shouldn't have any reason to celebrate the fact that summer is here. Early memories of summer always include sticky humid climate, the sun shining at full voltage, power cuts, turning in my sleep on a bed as hot as a toaster... the evenings were a little better with the cool breeze from the Bay of Bengal. On the whole, nothing to be happy about by any means.

Board walk near our neighborhood

Western Washington, on the contrary, is notorious for being wet, soggy wet. If you have watched "Sleepless in Seattle" you would know what I mean. My well meaning professors cautioned me about Seattle's rain when they heard I was moving there after graduating. Even the judge who presided our wedding made sure I know that it rains for nine months here (before the ceremony!). So you get my point...in a place like this gives me enough reasons to be crazy happy when I wake up in the morning and see the sun shining on the distant row of houses!

Slough

According to Arnab, in summer he feels like "the sun is rolling on the ground" - "সূর্য তা মাটিতে গড়াগড়ি দিচ্ছে " . I am not very sure what exactly he means by this, but hearing him say this excitedly for quite a bit makes me think that maybe he is just too happy that it is sunny and warm! 

For more than a week now we are waking up amidst bright sunshine. The sky is cornflower blue without a single wispy cloud. Mt Rainier and Mt. Baker can be seen from long distances, their snow caps shining brightly in the golden sun while the North Cascade and Olympic ranges surround us from all sides. Lake Washington is glistening like molten gold. The foliage around our commonplace I-5 and I-405 are rich green. Cherry blossoms have called it a day (or a year) but the green of the leaves are competing hard with the evergreen pines and firs.

Seattle basking in the summer sun

You will hear the low drone of lawn mowers from every other house in the neighborhood. The air smells of fresh cut grass. On our after-lunch walks from work, we find people working in their yards, tending to bright flowering plants. The season for tulips and daffodils is over, but rhododendrons have taken up the torch from them. I am looking forward to more dinners on the porch and walks after dinner with the sun not setting until 9:30 or 10 :-)

When it is not drizzling, Washington can be heavenly....with the evergreen trees' slender tops close against the azure sky I am happy to call "Washington my home".