Summer Is Always Almost Here

With each approaching spring, there is that incredible anticipation of the end of winter.

New Year’s confetti still tangled in people’s hair, Christmas lights barely cold from the month-long burn, and people are already talking about whether the Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a shorter winter than usual. Even among those who embrace the winter, is it seldom heard that they are not looking forward to spring and its inevitable offspring, summer.

We exited last summer, exhausted from a season full of house guests, parties and beach fires. Then we adjusted back to school during the course of an always too short autumn, and then were hurled into a holiday season that emptied into January.

Is it our annoyance with winter coats, scarves and gloves that makes us look toward the spring? Or perhaps just human nature to always look forward rather than to look where we are? Whatever the reason, it’s hard to deny that the coming spring is on the mind of all of us.

Looking out of our new office window on to Main Street in Bridgehampton recently, I began to think these warmer weather thoughts and the seeds of their origin. Below the window was a group of city people milling outside the Brown Harris Stevens’ window, on the search for the perfect summer home. I suddenly thought that perhaps that was it. Could it be that because so much of our daily business life out here centers on summer and our seasonal visitors that our thoughts, and thus lives, do as well?

I spend most of my year designing, building, talking about and planning people’s summers. And many of my friends and people I know out east are the same way. Taking that into account, I guess it’s only natural for all of us to be so summer-centric.

What if someone took one of the big warehouses on Industrial Road in Wainscott and created a year-round beach environment inside? Then we could go sit beside a pool that simulates a beach, sip a fruity cocktail, lather ourselves up with sunblock, listen to the waves and play Kadima in a bathing suit all year long.

Perhaps it’s not just summer that we love so much but also the longing for summer. It could be the whole yearly process that intoxicates us: the dreamy summer, and the winter full of summer dreams.

Is this a bad thing? I guess it isn’t as long as we don’t wish away our winters. Living summer to summer creates a lot of longing, a lot of time not appreciated, and a lot of time not recognizing the here and now.

Not losing sight of the minutes passing by is important to the quality of life. It enriches the everyday fabric rather than just the summer linen.

Obviously spring means something special to those of us living here on the East End, and our summers are sacred. While we may profess love for other times of the year, summer and its excitement is the drug that keeps us addicted to our little slice of heaven.

Sure, we complain about the crowds, complain that our favorite beaches have been overrun, complain about the lines at the local shops, but deep inside we love it all. If we didn’t, we would have probably left the area by now.

Coming to terms with all of this, I propose that rosé become the year-round drink of the Hamptons, regardless of the official season.