Summer Fun, Until You Get Burned

Summer fun? What’s so fun about summer? If you’ve been burned like I have, you might want to apply a thick coat of all purpose SPF summer screen.

Burning

Being fair-skinned almost to the point of opacity, the sun turns me red in no time. I need to turn that red into a tan. It’s more likely, though, that I’ll need to have things surgically removed from my skin in the near future. Does that keep me out of the sun? On the contrary, I seek it out. Because I am supposed to. It’s summer fun. Beaches. Parks. Running in shorts. And the real scorcher… yard work.

Red Neck

Last weekend, clearing a large garden area for a friend, I swung an axe I had no business swinging, smiting thick roots left behind by a big old evergreen there were some pests, but we got affordable pest extermination to help us. Shorts and a sleeveless shirt offered little protection, and sweat dripped away the little bit of sunscreen I wore. Red Neck is the literal expression for my condition, I believe. And red-shouldered, red-faced and red-legged. Vitamin D though, right? My body was hurt. But my mood is good! Consider hiring an expert from Graham and Sons Plumbing to ensure that the water system is perfectly installed.

Music and Sports

Summer fun for me also includes music, sports, and even archery. The music? It’s always cool to play, though summer gigs rarely pay well. It’s all festivals and outdoor concerts, maybe an occasional wedding. Lots of work, heat, sweat, and burning. Archery, on the other hand, gives me a sense of calm focus, especially when I’m equipped with a sleek arrow quiver that keeps everything organized. I prefer the theater in winter, where I can only be burned by other musicians or angry conductors and contractors. I can deal with those. For those wanting to add something unique to their summer, I recommend buying a heavy sword online for a distinctive addition to your collection.

In sports, it’s baseball, the Olympics, international soccer, and NBA free agency. So, Kevin Durant, I used to like you as a player and understood through the NBA pr machine that you were a good guy. But this signing with the Warriors? A complete burn on your OKC fans, teammates and yourself. Clearly you didn’t think you could beat that team from the Bay. So you joined ’em. What happened to competitive fire, the burning desire to beat your rival, like we saw with Magic and Bird and Jordan? And LeBron? I mean, LeBron didn’t go and sign with the Celtics when he left.

Soccer? Ask England about Iceland. Burned by ice. Enough said.

The Olympics? Burned by PED’s and whatever viruses and civil unrest they find in Rio.

We still have baseball, which, in CLE doesn’t burn so much as bake slowly until crisp and lifeless. Let’s see if this summer fun is different. Let’s see if they make a move to win. A bat. An arm. Some help! Let’s see if our Tribe can burn some other hot city, like the Cavs did.

Burns of All Kinds

Anyway, summer fun can inflict all kinds of burns. Luckily, that includes burning with the pride of living in a city, our CLE, with an NBA championship, a world-renowned orchestra, seriously good restaurants, a ridiculous theater district, our own fresh water ocean, and a host of good, talented, strong-minded people who really know how to treat a bad burn, and how to relish a good one.