As of this morning we are entering the fourth day in a stretch of cool, wet July weather. It doesn't feel like July, even though the calendar says that it is. How un-summerlike have the conditions been? An extra-blanket-on-the-bed-night three nights in a row cool.

On Wednesday, the most recent real summer weather day, I put in a long day cutting firewood in the hopes that I could finish the job and that I would not have to go back at it Thursday should it rain as forecast. I finished the job, and it rained--either good foresight or causality on my part. I am glad that I saw that task through to the end. I am not so glad with the abrupt and marked change in the weather. Limited outside activities have been the order of the day these past three days. I have the option of permitting the weather to influence, if not dictate, my outdoor activities. Morning walks in the drizzle, mist, fog, or combinations thereof simply means that I take appropriate measures to dry my clothes on my return home. Breaks in the weather during these days have allowed for the completion of a few minor outdoor tasks. I am also well into my next read. During yesterday's morning walk I took the opportunity to stop at a local restaurant to enjoy a $1.50--tax included--cup of coffee with unlimited refills. I can also attribute that decision to the weather, at least, in part.

The coffee came with the chance encounter with a local artist, who had recently returned from a three-week job in southern Indiana painting stage sets. Next month he will return to Indiana to do up a local restaurant as a New Orleans street scene. If any of my readers, find themselves in southern Indiana somewhere along the Lincoln Highway thinking that they are in New Orleans, blame the confusion on an itinerant artist and his patron and not that extra glass of sweetened ice tea. I came away from this encounter thinking how much of our lives are spent thinking, imagining, and play-acting that we are not where we are, but that we are someplace else. In so doing, how much of the very real do we miss out on?

If we stay tuned into the weather, doesn't that encourage us to keep it real? The weather not only can dictate outdoor activities, but prompts adjustments to those in which we continue to be engaged: long or short sleeves, rain gear or sunscreen. Indoor activities are also weather influenced: the number of blankets on the bed, open or closed windows, fans, or a cake in the oven.