By Annabeth Miiler,
ShowMe Times Editor

The temperatures of late would make it seem summer had already begun, but according to the astronomical calendar summer officially began Tuesday.

Well, actually, summer actually began with the summer solstice that occurred Tuesday 1:16 p.m. EDT (17:16 UTC), when the sun was “as high as an elephant’s eye” - as high in the sky as possible. It was the longest day of the entire year – just a fraction of a second longer of daylight that the day before and even today.

So, on the first official day summer, we celebrated with kids at the swimming pool and lots of America’s favorite pastime being played by kids at the Sports Complex. It was a good first day of summer.

Look on the bright side: with the longest day of the year behind us, we can look forward to longer evenings spent on the deck or front porch counting lightening bugs, enjoying big, tall glasses of sweet tea and the company of family and friends.

But, on the other hand, it’s summer in the Bootheel. Sweltering, sweaty and sultry. Summer.

Of course, this all means that if we aren't swatting mosquitoes then we're going to thermostat to crank the air conditioning a bit or taking the third shower of the day or trying to find yet another recipe for yellow squash.

It's summer in the Bootheel, thank you very much!

Summer songs coming to mind? Songs to hum while counting lightening bugs or swatting mosquitoes? At the top of Billboard’s list of “Top 30 Summer Songs of All Time,” are “Surfin’ Safari” (The Beach Boys, 1962), “Summertime” (Billy Stewart, 1966), “Wipeout” (Fat Boys and The Beach Boys, 1987), “Cruel Summer” (Bananarama, 1983) and “Summertime Blues” (Eddie Cochran, 1958).

At the top of Entertainment Weekly’s “100 Greatest Summer Songs of All Time,” are “Summer in the City” (The Lovin’ Spoonful, 1966), “California Girls” (The Beach Boys, 1965), “School’s Out” (Alice Cooper, 1972), “Heat Wave” (Martha and the Vandellas, 1963) and “Under the Boardwalk” (The Drifters, 1964).

Good tunes to celebrate the start of summer. Enjoy!

ShowMe Times Photo Gallery