Signs of the Season

There is evidence, apart from the seasonal night and morning low clouds and coastal fog, that summer is at hand:

Tioga Pass has now been opened for the season. Yosemite Valley already is swarming with visitors, sold out for Memorial Day and probably, by the time you read this, for the Fourth of July.

Boothbay Harbor, Me., has just reactivated its only traffic signal and all 200 of its parking meters, ready for seasonal tourism to flower even as the first apple blossoms are opening.

In DeKalb County, one of the most productive farming areas in Illinois, 95% of the corn is already planted. Some was sown as early as April 3 because of an unusually warm spring; those early plantings already are 10 inches high. The problem now is not sunshine but rain, running at half of normal.

Close to home, the first blue blossoms are opening on the neighbor’s jacaranda.

And, oh yes, the Hollywood Bowl schedule has arrived and is firmly affixed, by magnet, to our refrigerator.

Now all that we need to do is remember where we stowed the picnic basket, the cooler and the sun cream.