Summertime, and the livin’ is easy

Oh yeah. It’s officially summertime. The calendar says so and the weather is making a solid effort to get with the program here on the coast.
As I look across these 50 states, I do see a growing need for man to finally figure out a way to control the weather. We’ve been mucking around with it since the dark ages. With technology being where it is, I really think somebody ought to get on it and fast. Half the country is under water and here we sit with the marine layer clamped over what would otherwise be perfect days.
I, myself, am working on inventing a really small but powerful vacuum that will suck up our marine layer and deliver it to El Cajon, San Marcos and other points east. I haven’t got all the physics ironed out yet, but it will somehow spit their endless sunshine out back here for us coastal dwellers. Does anyone have any friends at Dyson?
Meanwhile, school is out and I did open my door to a big whiff of ocean air today. I swear, one or two lungs full takes five years off of me. And while I have a few more hours a day to spare, I have not reached my Nirvana of being able to stay home and putter around. Just because we have several more hours of light should not mean that I have to get more done. I subscribe to the “Porgy and Bess” take on this season: The livin’ should be easy.
And on that note, I simply have to suggest a few books for summer reading. I discovered “Sisters of the Sari,” by Brenda L. Baker when it was sent to The Coast News for a review. It places a strong, kind American CEO in Chennai, India. It is a wonderful story about how her life intertwines with women of every social strata.
An older, but lovely book I was given is “The Inner Voice,” by and about soprano Renee Fleming. It was published in 2004 but is a timeless book on the art and science of classical singing. It would be a special treat for anyone who sings at all or loves opera, but even I, who strains to even hum well, found it a fascinating glimpse into that world.
I also really enjoyed “The Dressmaker of Khair Khana” by former ABC political journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. I have read other novels about women in the war-torn and turbulent Middle East, but this true account of how the women of Afghanistan, and particularly one group of five sisters, survived the frequent and extraordinary changes in their world, is amazing. About halfway through the book, I was sorely tempted to woman run outside in my bathing suit and shout, “God bless America.” Read it and you’ll understand.
The two treats I am saving for serious summer brain candy are “The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit,” by Jill Connor Browne, and “Life’s a Beach” by Claire Cook. These are both on my slick new e-book reader. My husband got tired of my indecision as to which brand to buy and simply brought me one home.
I’m not telling what brand until I finish figuring out how to use it properly, but it does have its charms. In closing, I will just say I am not ready to give up my dog-eared, sandy paperbacks yet, but there may be room for both in my life.
Now get out of here and leave me alone. I have things to read.