I was told last night that it’s supposed to get up to 80° today.  Don’t I wish!  The ‘report’ was given by Mark at our Friday night gathering and was met by moans and groans from everyone but me.  “Too hot!” they all said.  “Perfect!” say I.
     But I’m a bit of a doubting Thomas when it comes to weather on the Northwest Coast.  To me, eighty usually feels like sixty-five or seventy.  It’s the wind, I think.  People talk a lot about the wind chill factor in the winter when the temperatures are already low.  If the thermometer reads 30° and the wind is blowing at twenty-miles-per (which is fairly normal here in winter) it feels like it’s 17° out.  I agree totally.  But no one talks “wind chill” in summer.
     It seems logical to me that since we always have that ‘nice’ marine breeze blowing, 80° will never feel like 80° no matter how many people put on their shorts and sun-block.  Not like the eighty degrees of my warm-and-toasty California childhood.  If the temperature reaches Mark’s forecast today, I say it will feel like a very pleasant seventy-something.
     However, it seems I’m totally wrong about all that.  According to my ‘extensive online research,’ if it’s eighty degrees with a twenty-mile-an-hour wind, it will feel like eighty-three.  Go figure!
     Nevertheless, we are ready!  Nyel brought  the summertime accouterments out of hiding yesterday – the lawn chairs, the yard art, the cannon.  The Jean Maries are out in full force.  The lilacs are in bloom and the honeysuckle is coming on.  The garden looks nice, smells nice and, all things being equal, it’s going to feel nice.  We plan to eat outside and maybe even have a snooze in the sun.  Oysterville perfection!
     In the back of my mind, my father gets full credit.  He loved the sunshine and planned this garden so it would be at its best on May 12th.  Were he still with us, he would be 103 today.  Happy Birthday, Dad!