Have BBQ sauce, will travel

Another Memorial Day has come and gone—and in its wake, I think it's safe to say that summer has officially arrived (despite someone setting a date of June 21). The A/C in my apartment is running, I'm driving with the windows down, the temps are averaging 85 each day, I'm sneezing myself to death from the pollens . . . and last but not least, the swimming pools are now open for business! :)

I took my first dip of the season last evening in Alexandria, when Will invited me down to his new condo for burgers and gin & tonics (not necessarily in that order), and when I arrived home from PA earlier that afternoon, the Riverhouse pool was just bustling . . . and with all the hotties out sunbathing, it's often hard to tear myself away from my living room window, because it looks directly onto the pool.

I often choose to think of Memorial Day as the official line of demarcation between spring and summer. That's usually when the pools open up, baseball is in full swing, kids are winding down the school year for the summer, and barbecues are grilling from here to eternity. Now if that's not enough to put you in the summer mood, I don't know what will. This Memorial Day I spent in PA visiting family, and yesterday my father and I went to see my hometown's Memorial Day parade before going out to the local cemetery for the annual VFW ceremony (something of a tradition we started a long time ago). The one thing that would have made the weekend more complete would have been if the Nats played last night, or even in the afternoon.