La Agrodolce Vita

Eric Rohmer was able to capture a kind of enjoyable listliss ennui of a summer day better than anyone else. Still from The Green Ray (1986).

When I think of an ideal summer, I think of trips, but not exciting trips. No camping trips, no road trips, no paddling down white water, no arduous hikes on hot hillsides. No, I think of the little trips to go for a dip in a cool pool on a hot day, or to pick up some fresh berries at a market. My idea of summer is a lazy breakfast on the deck, a swim in an outdoor pool, a nap in front of a fan, or a meandering bike ride under a canopy of trees, the dappled light cascading over me. Since living in Ontario, I’ve found the hum of cicadas on a hot day to be the ambient soundtrack of summer.

As a kid, summers seemed eternal. As a working adult, you realize all too quickly that your summer amounts to about ten weekends and maybe a week away somewhere. It’s so easy for those few days to be wrecked. What are the slayers of summer, the flies in the sun block, encumbrances to the enjoyment? Errands, crappy weather and ill health can all combine to kill a summer.

A big part of enjoying summer is being out in it. That means you need weather suitable for being outside. While many places are suffering intolerable heat, drought and wildfires, we’ve been fairly lucky. We’ve had days of dangerously high temperatures, pelting rain and choking smoke from wildfires too, but that only makes those sweet perfect days that much more precious. It’s hard to get anything productive done on precious days. Precious days are for slipping into cool pools, weaving through side streets on a bike or just sitting in the shade and doing a sketch. Another slayer of summer days is ill health. Errant migraines, ever-worsening eczema and very painful vascular malformations have wiped out too many days.

Italians call it “la dolce vita”, the sweet life. Simply enjoying little pleasures at a more relaxed pace of life has been my life goal this summer (or any summer really). Why pack a dozen errands into a trip when one errand can be its own little adventure? You might only get one thing done, but you won’t kill yourself doing it. Yet it’s easy for minor daily tasks to suck up all the energy and kill a summertime vibe. Ontario’s version of the DMV is a Service Ontario office where you can go to deal with anything licensed or government services related. I had to replace two ID cards (the less said of it, the better). Checking the Website said “no appointment necessary”, so off I went. They have a number system that will text you when a representative is ready for you. All you have to do is wait. Wait, I did. During which time I felt my summer erode with each minute. This could have been time wasted napping or floating in a pool. I don’t have so much time that I can waste it by simply watching it tick by. There are better ways to waste my time. I’m not a time millionaire. I had to waste this time trying to actively stay awake and pay attention. That’s no way to waste time.

It can’t always be sunshine and lollipops. Sometimes it’s raindrops and sour peaches. This summer has had its share of sweetness but also a definite lack of sweetness. While watching Tucci in Italy, wherein the actor Stanley Tucci is definitely living la dolce vita. He described one particular dish as being sweet and sour, using the term “agrodolce” for that sweet and sour combination. I think that describes my summer. Not the sweet life, not a sour life, but days of sweet and sour. La agrodolce vita - that sweet and sour life. I can’t complain. Without the sour days, how else would we appreciate the sweet ones?