Blog Dis
Summer is for fun
2025-07-22
Wanna head out for some fun in the sun? Summer is the ideal period of time in the year for having fun, more so for those living in countries that have four seasons. I've traveled into countries that don't have four seasons, will not ever have four seasons, and deal with sun seven days a week, 52 weeks out of every year. That's a lot of sun.
And so it goes. When you travel into countries whose climate is temperate year round, and sunny on most days, persons will often dismiss you by saying, "Oh, but it's a dry heat. It's not the same as humidity." Balderdash! Lemme tell you something about the sun in a climate with dry heat... that sun will beat down on your bloody head for the entire time it's out and high in the sky. During this entire time, the sun will suck out every last drop of moisture from your body. You'll thirst like you've never thirst before, and your body will bake in the heat of the sun. When my small tour group and me had hiked 50 Km (31 miles) in the Wadi Rum desert for four days in Jordan in the Middle East, I was shocked that despite having guzzled a minimum of two to three liters of water every day, during our long hours of hiking, the water and moisture in my body seemed to evaporate without me typically heading to the washroom, the way I normally would, say if I were drinking even one liter in my city back home. It's just not the same.
The sun is our Big Mama in the sky, our eye, looking down on us, shining rays of light that bounce off our skin, cooking us, delivering the much-needed Vitamin D to our bodies. Every single cell in your body has a Vitamin D receptor, and this means that Vitamin D is essential to your health. Canadians especially are lacking in sun exposure. We have the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world because of our position relative to the equator. We don't get as much sun as other countries like South America, as one example. But we sure do know how to have fun in every season in every year. Our summer patios are generally packed. Our beaches in summer are teaming with parents and kids, and dogs, though not necessarily all going into the water yet most definitely all are soaking up the rays on a blanket on the beach.
Having survived skin cancer, I don't actively sit out in the sun to bake my body. I feel when someone does this they are microwaving their skin, and it shows in their faces, the leathery look of their skin. So when I cycle I slather on SPF protection on my arms and use a spray SPF on my back, yet I still begin every new cycling season with a fresh red burn, until it turns into a golden tan. I love to cycle in the sun, unless the temperature is freakin' hot and then I'll head out earlier in the morning. When you hike a desert, you'll see very little activity from the local animal population during the day. These animals have the good sense not to cook themselves in the sun. At night, however, you won't hear them at all but for sure these animals will come out, to engage in their nocturnal activities, while the humans sleep. They do so not because it's fun to be out at night but because hunting at night is to their advantage. And as for the local population, while you may regard wearing black and long sleeves as stifling, too hot, and the darkest of shades of color that would normally attract more sun and heat up quicker, the choice of black may appear to be counter-intuitive to us in the West, yet in fact the color black provides greater SPF protection from the sun vs say a white T-shirt that barely delivers 15 minutes of SPF protection. Believe me. People of the desert know the sun. They live it day in and day out, especially those who live their entire lives in the desert, not just travelers or tourists like me who come to explore.
The human advantage of being out during the day, in the heat, under the bright light of the sun, is to wallow in cottage-land activities, to sit on the dock and have meaningful talk, or to swim, paddle-board, sail or to canoe in the bush, build a fire, roast some weenies with marshmallow chasers, and embrace all the goodness that the summer and its sun has to offer. Summer is the best time for fun with outdoor softball games and tournaments, to include soccer, cycling and getting around town by e-scooter, bike or moped. Ask a runner, however, and they'll tell you they don't mind the cold in winter for running, while others will attest to their love to run in the sun and heat, doesn't matter the humidity.
I've posted some of these pictures in prior posts. Here is one again of yours truly, taken in the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan in the Middle East. We began our day of hiking at 6 AM and took a break from Noon to 3 pm, for a siesta, when the sun was at its highest and the hottest (55 Celsius = 131 Fahrenheit), and then we resumed hiking from 3 pm to 6 pm, after which we collapsed at our camp, which consisted of a fire built in the sand, and laid out sleeping bags, on top of which we used to sleep, rather than inside. That way we could enjoy sleeping under the stars at night. After our four-day hike, we eventually made our way to the historic site of Petra. I'm told that the route we had followed of Sir Lawrence of Arabia, from Wadi Rum to the port of Aqaba, is unrecognizable because of all the condos that have gone up. More's the pity.
May your summer be filled with fun and frolicking, and plenty of sun rays to light the way.
And so it goes. When you travel into countries whose climate is temperate year round, and sunny on most days, persons will often dismiss you by saying, "Oh, but it's a dry heat. It's not the same as humidity." Balderdash! Lemme tell you something about the sun in a climate with dry heat... that sun will beat down on your bloody head for the entire time it's out and high in the sky. During this entire time, the sun will suck out every last drop of moisture from your body. You'll thirst like you've never thirst before, and your body will bake in the heat of the sun. When my small tour group and me had hiked 50 Km (31 miles) in the Wadi Rum desert for four days in Jordan in the Middle East, I was shocked that despite having guzzled a minimum of two to three liters of water every day, during our long hours of hiking, the water and moisture in my body seemed to evaporate without me typically heading to the washroom, the way I normally would, say if I were drinking even one liter in my city back home. It's just not the same.
The sun is our Big Mama in the sky, our eye, looking down on us, shining rays of light that bounce off our skin, cooking us, delivering the much-needed Vitamin D to our bodies. Every single cell in your body has a Vitamin D receptor, and this means that Vitamin D is essential to your health. Canadians especially are lacking in sun exposure. We have the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world because of our position relative to the equator. We don't get as much sun as other countries like South America, as one example. But we sure do know how to have fun in every season in every year. Our summer patios are generally packed. Our beaches in summer are teaming with parents and kids, and dogs, though not necessarily all going into the water yet most definitely all are soaking up the rays on a blanket on the beach.
Having survived skin cancer, I don't actively sit out in the sun to bake my body. I feel when someone does this they are microwaving their skin, and it shows in their faces, the leathery look of their skin. So when I cycle I slather on SPF protection on my arms and use a spray SPF on my back, yet I still begin every new cycling season with a fresh red burn, until it turns into a golden tan. I love to cycle in the sun, unless the temperature is freakin' hot and then I'll head out earlier in the morning. When you hike a desert, you'll see very little activity from the local animal population during the day. These animals have the good sense not to cook themselves in the sun. At night, however, you won't hear them at all but for sure these animals will come out, to engage in their nocturnal activities, while the humans sleep. They do so not because it's fun to be out at night but because hunting at night is to their advantage. And as for the local population, while you may regard wearing black and long sleeves as stifling, too hot, and the darkest of shades of color that would normally attract more sun and heat up quicker, the choice of black may appear to be counter-intuitive to us in the West, yet in fact the color black provides greater SPF protection from the sun vs say a white T-shirt that barely delivers 15 minutes of SPF protection. Believe me. People of the desert know the sun. They live it day in and day out, especially those who live their entire lives in the desert, not just travelers or tourists like me who come to explore.
The human advantage of being out during the day, in the heat, under the bright light of the sun, is to wallow in cottage-land activities, to sit on the dock and have meaningful talk, or to swim, paddle-board, sail or to canoe in the bush, build a fire, roast some weenies with marshmallow chasers, and embrace all the goodness that the summer and its sun has to offer. Summer is the best time for fun with outdoor softball games and tournaments, to include soccer, cycling and getting around town by e-scooter, bike or moped. Ask a runner, however, and they'll tell you they don't mind the cold in winter for running, while others will attest to their love to run in the sun and heat, doesn't matter the humidity.
I've posted some of these pictures in prior posts. Here is one again of yours truly, taken in the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan in the Middle East. We began our day of hiking at 6 AM and took a break from Noon to 3 pm, for a siesta, when the sun was at its highest and the hottest (55 Celsius = 131 Fahrenheit), and then we resumed hiking from 3 pm to 6 pm, after which we collapsed at our camp, which consisted of a fire built in the sand, and laid out sleeping bags, on top of which we used to sleep, rather than inside. That way we could enjoy sleeping under the stars at night. After our four-day hike, we eventually made our way to the historic site of Petra. I'm told that the route we had followed of Sir Lawrence of Arabia, from Wadi Rum to the port of Aqaba, is unrecognizable because of all the condos that have gone up. More's the pity.
May your summer be filled with fun and frolicking, and plenty of sun rays to light the way.
