Forget the solstice, it's officially summer

The lightning bugs started appearing a few days ago and the crape myrtles are in bloom - forget the "official" first day of summer, those are signs enough for me. There's a clump of crape myrtles sort of across the street from my building with lovely lilac-colored flowers. We've had just enough rain lately that this promises to be a good year for them. (Now watch us get no more rain for weeks...)