Is this the best thing in life?

The weather this week is being called brisk and autumnal by our NYC-based weather people, which causes me to scratch my head in mild annoyance. Autumnal? Since when is 76 degrees brisk? I suppose climate change has influenced this generation of weather bunnies to believe that dry in the mid-seventies is the new 52 degrees.

Anyway, despite this bizarre interpretation, the current mild, warm weather is the perfect temperature for getting out onto a backyard patio, a roof, or sidewalk cafe in the evening and enjoying a beer or tea or dinner with friends. It's the temperature of summers when I was a youngster, and it probably won't be with us for more than a minute, or at the most a week or two.

This is it, my favorite time of year, late summer - September. You can breathe again and the smells that plague the city during high summer seem to blow away with the evening breezes.

I've realized how undemanding I am. Sitting outside and enjoying a meal or drink with friends and family in the late summer; that may be the best thing in life.