Suddenly, it feels like summer. Thor's last day of school was yesterday. The tomato plants are growing by leaps and bounds. The day lilies, peonies, and calla lilies are in bloom. The lilacs, iris, camellias, and rhododendrons are spent. Lawnmowers seem to growl from every direction. Our fingers are perpetually stained from picking a handful of raspberries every time we step out back. I open up the windows early every morning to let in the cool air, and close it up again when it starts to get hot. Yes, hot. The heat has come to Portland. The last few days have been in the 90s, way too hot for me, but my husband loves it, and when the temperature goes up, he and Thor can't wait to get to a river. Tuesday night we all hopped in the car for a quick trip to Barton Park. It's not our favorite place to hang out, having a bit of a party atmosphere in summer, but late in the day there are few people there, especially if you are willing to walk upriver on the rocks and through the bushes a ways. As the sun got lower and lower, the boys body-surfed the current downriver and walked back up the shallow side again and again. (They found a dead eel!) Ah, yes. We're ready for you, summer. You with your inviting and glistening rivers and lakes, you with your early morning light and birdsong, you with your supermagical garden-growing sunpower. You with your evenings that seem to last forever.