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I can’t believe that summer is almost two thirds over. I can’t believe that it has already been quite full. It is not over, thankfully. You could think awhile about how to fill the rest of the summer, but I have done a little of that for you–at least for this week.

It’s another full week. I have not wilted from the heat yet but have had to turn on my air conditioner at home only twice so far. Maybe it is because I have been taking in some of the great views the city has to offer in the performance, art, and community venues that keep me from noticing it is getting to the hot part of the year.

Last week’s Canadian fires brought me a scratchy throat and sights of suns and moons with colors that would make the artist’s palette envious. On alternate evenings, I saw the blood moon and the pink sun that hovered over Saint Paul and was reminded of the brilliant things happening in the stages, in the neighborhoods, and in the hearts and minds that made and consume it all.

The spectacle of the Fourth of July left us with a late night of fireworks after an exciting extra-inning ball game at CHS field. Last week was grand, but there are even more fireworks in store for this week. You cannot possibly catch them all, but Saint Paul is busy this week. Take a look, listen, feel, and taste. You will be glad you shared it with us.

Can you tell that the days are getting shorter? I think we had better do something about it, capture them in the vision of our mind’s eye before they fade into night. But even though Saint Paul sleeps, stuff happens at night, too. Even in our Minnesota short-evening summers.

This week marks the grand opening of SubText Books in its new downtown space and this month’s Lowertown Reading Jam, A friend and former bookseller made me think of the importance of what we are doing in our community with art and literature. A friend and former bookseller made me think of the importance of what we are doing in our community with art and literature. She said of the two events, “I hope against the tide too … in many things, actually. Resistance is important, in small and large ways.”

It feels like summer. Shorts and ice cream and kids in the neighborhoods during the day. What will we do with ourselves? I don’t know where to start, or maybe I do. Let’s start with some summer reading.

Is it summer yet? We have baseball in Lowertown, we have several festivals under our belts, most young people are out of school and flower gardens are showing off their flowers.