Summertime, And The Livin' Is Wistful

The change to summer came suddenly here in the Pacific Northwest.  We went from a rainy cool spring to lazy, hazy the sun doesn't set until almost nine, full blown summer the day after Memorial Day.  I know it's not official until the solstice but the intoxicating perfume of driftwood fires and suntan lotion from the beach just below our house says otherwise.

It catches me by surprise every year.  A whiff of tanning cream, lotion or oil instantly transports me to my teenage years of the mid 1960's.  There is decidedly more bare skin on display in 2016 than there was in the season of my raging hormones and I find myself wondering how young guys of today handle it.  It was distracting enough when bikinis were more modest, but now it must be excruciatingly difficult for a guy to keep a Speedo from levitating.

Tattoos are everywhere and I regret our society has reached a point where body mutilation is considered an acceptable fashion statement.  Was it really that long ago when this kind of body "art" was strictly the province of carnival workers and ex-cons?  Of course there were the unfortunate tats still worn by military vets of my dad's generation as mute testimony of alcohol poisoning in foreign ports, but that was different.  Wisely, most of those guys knew enough to get inked on surfaces they could easily hide when they returned to civilian life.  The neck and head tattoos of today are a far different story.  And, sorry, I don't care how petite and discretely placed, tattoos on women don't do a thing for Boomer boys like me.  We associate that with a show we saw in Tijuana 45 years ago.

Note to self:  Buy as much stock as possible in companies that manufacture laser tattoo removal equipment.  It's only a matter of time...

Think she'll still like these in thirty years?