Summer is warm.

A curiosity of summer is the physical recognition that there is an ideal temperature for the surroundings of the human body. Winter does not generate such awareness of the environment.

Winter is cold.

Draped in bulky garments, the frigid temperatures of the dark months jolt us to the thinness of our temporality. We would expire without jackets, boots and scarves. In winter, we know we are in a fight for our survival. This is not the time for the musing on idealities. Throw another log on the fire, don another layer of fur, and pop a hot brick in the bed. Do what you can to raise the room temperature, and do not bother me with thoughts not related to the warming my feet. This is war, not reverie.

Not so summer.

The days of long light are blessed with a bounty of heat. In the comforting envelope of warmth, we smile as the sweat soaks our shirts and beads of water trickle down our necks. Our immediate dreams and pressing needs are those of diving into ponds and standing under cool showers. True, the elevated temperatures can, at times, be itchy, drippy and even clammy. We can be a bit uncomfortable. Yet, it is an ambient and passing discomfiture, encountered lightly with a quiet mind and passing with the setting of the sun and the cooling eve. Temperature is not a demanding and distracting battle in a frozen and bewitched kingdom with a talking snowman who dreams of a heat he dare not encounter. Summer is different. Even on the hottest of vacation days, a curious cerebral separateness directs our minds to idle thinkings. We are not huddled in manic fear of our imminent demise should the pilot light fail. We think easily, lightly, ideally.

One of those idle thoughts of the summertime is that of the ideal temperature.

What is the perfect temperature of habitation for the human body?

Where is that mythic spot without sweat or freeze?

In my house, the thermostat is set at 68 F (20.0 C) in winter and 78 F (25.6 C) in summer. Me and we, my families through the days of my life, have always done it that way. With the gauge adjusted to those points, from deep dark to long light, we feel a corporate coziness in winter and a congenial coolness in summer. And, when the bills arrive, we applaud each other for the economic balance of our varied temperaments.

On the Internet is a great deal of detailed information of body temperature to ambient temperature and room temperature to the ideal body. In these idle days of summer, let us not be so definitive. In this time of mild musing, let us not belabor the obvious. Let us cut to the chase. Go with the flow. Focus on the temperatures on the wall of our lives. The average from winter to fall is right there. It is half way between 68 F and 78 F. The number is: 73 F (22.778 C).

Voila!

Another secret of the universe before our very eyes.

And, from a quick reading of the experts inhabiting the global Pangaea of digital thought, they agree. Smack dab in the middle of the hits that google and yahoo their way to my waiting screen, 73 F is the ideal setting for human living.

Now you see why I like summer

The mind works easier.

Do you agree?

Mine does.

Ahhh. . . .

I quite enjoy.

The days of summer.

Those lazy hazy crazy days of summer.

You know, I think it’s time for a nap and relax at 22.778 C.

Grandpa Jim