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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Take time to enjoy bounty of summertime pleasures

Deborah Chan The Spokesman-Review

Years ago, when Spokane contemplated a moniker other than “The Lilac City,” some wag wrote a letter to the editor suggesting “The City of Two Seasons: Winter and Road Repair.”

And so the season of Road Repair is upon us.

Little orange cones are going up everywhere on roads necessary and convenient to you. They will soon be, if not already, torn up for sewer installation, repaving or other work.

We’re about to experience a new kind of road rage on Broadway between Bates and Sullivan as the city controversially re-stripes the street to convert it from four lanes to two, with center turn and bicycle lanes. The ascending heat from frustrated drivers will likely create a new hole in the ozone layer directly above it.

Summer has arrived, redolent with the smell of fresh asphalt, barbecue, sunscreen and roses, and the sounds of backhoes, splashing water and, as Joni Mitchell eloquently put it, “the hissing of summer lawns.”

Ah, the bounty of summer.

First is the influx of parking lot peddlers. These peripatetic hucksters exhibit wares whose garishness can probably be detected by satellite. Lawn ornaments, rugs, Elvis wall hangings, whirligigs, gee-gaws, hot dogs; it’s all for you, discriminating buyer.

Competing for deserted parking lot space (and even that of existing businesses) are the impromptu auto sales lots where vehicles must propagate in the night. One day there’s one, the next, two or three and, before you know it, the only things missing are balloons and overfriendly salespeople.

Also competing for parking lot space are youth-group car washes, which can be easily spotted by the brilliantly colored hanging towels and friendly, smiling hardworking hawkers.

It’s not difficult to find fun. Outdoor art shows and artwalks, fairs, rodeos, festivals, hoops contests and street rod shows abound; so do outdoor concerts, picnics and the lure of the Centennial Trail.

The produce stands and farmers’ markets are back. It’s time to savor the fleeting pleasures of summer fruits and vegetables. Go to Green Bluff, Carver Farms and huckleberry patches in the wild to pick that juicy booty. Or be Farmer John/Jane in your own backyard to enjoy and share the bounty of berries, peaches, melons and tomatoes. You can keep the zucchini, an alien species surreptitiously implanted among us by hostile alien beings.

Let’s not forget the wildlife. Last summer we had fun observing killdeers that nested on bark next to our driveway. (Until we learned what they were, we’d called them “the peep-peep birds.”) They became comfortable enough to let us get fairly close without instantly going into broken-wing display mode. Four speckled eggs hatched into cute balls of fluff hopping all over the street before disappearing into adulthood.

We enjoy our neighborhood quail, those little “Roman soldiers” with their festive crests and wake of little ones. We have rabbits, too, which also delight us until they dine on the pansies we’ve just planted in our backyard. Being softhearted bunny-lovers, we’re spraying a disgusting repellent, hoping not to have to resort to harsher methods such as injuring ourselves trying to set up humane traps.

But the best sign of summer is color. We can rejuvenate our winterized spirits with the carpets of verdant grass, the beauteous munificence of flowers and intense blue sky.

I’m sure glad there’s no property tax on them.