Pros of summer:

Nice weather, for the most part, although the recent heat wave in an apartment on the 3rd floor with no air conditioning rendered me completely useless for a good week. No relief even from the car, since the AC is broken in that, too. We are now back to highs in the mid-80's and lows below 70. The Northwest is now as it should be. (read: cooler than Colorado in the summer.)

More lacksadaisical schedule. I'm only teaching five days a week instead of six, and there are very few gigs coming my way. There's some great things about relaxing for a couple months. I get to do things like... read for pleasure.

Allergies go away from spring. (Took them long enough... I was taking Claritin way into July.)

Cons of summer:

The mosquitos. Enough said.
***

Okay, not enough said, because I am in pain from my stupid bites I got in a distant relative's backyard the other night. 13 in total. One of them is on my foot - this happens once almost every summer. First there's the bite that I absentmindedly scratch, only to discover eventually that my fingers are gnawing away at my skin, and scream, "Oh, no!" Then there's the mad rush for Benadryl cream, which will indeed help every bit I have EXCEPT the one on my foot. Then there's the swelling - it will go away temporarily when I ice it and rest it, but as soon as I need to put any weight on the darn foot (like, when I walk ANYWHERE) the blood rushes down and the foot begins to grow to the size of Connecticut again.

So my plan for today, pretty much, is to make my students do all the work. I'm not getting up from the chair in the studio. They'll be able to take one look at my foot and see how hobbly and gimpy I am.

I just hope nobody thinks I have the mumps!