Not exactly dog days

Even Dupont Circle is peaceful in August.

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It's August, but ... really? Because it rained and stayed in the lower 80s today, and is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous tomorrow. I can't remember such a gentle summer here. (Hope I didn't just jinx it.)

Except for the usual summer beastliness, August is a wonderful month in DC. The citizens of the District take off for Maine or upstate New York, or they go visit family out west. It's a pressure cooker of a city; hence we must escape, we simply must -- or else. In August, nothing much goes down in DC; it's the perfect time to get the hell out of Dodge.

In August even the tourists seem to disappear for a few weeks. It's easy to visit the museums. The metro isn't jammed with people, the traffic is lighter, the streets clearer and calmer. I welcome August, especially this year.

Last summer I did not get away all summer. But this summer is different. In a couple of weeks I'll spend a weekend with dear ones at their cabin in W. Virginia, gazing at the Potomac River and partaking of their incredible hospitality. Two weeks after that, my ex housemates and I will go up to the finger lakes region of New York to stay in a condo on a lake whose name I still am unable to spell without looking it up. We're staying for five glorious days. There's a deck on the water, and a panoramic view of the lake. The moon will be dark, so if it's clear, there will be stars. Stars! Oh man, do I ever need to see some stars.

Who doesn't?

I look forward to the getaways and in the meantime I'm luxuriating in this gentle summer, I surely am!

Shalom.