The summer season inspires far fewer sayings in New England than spring, fall or winter, probably because it’s so short and so cool.
After all, three straight days of 90 degrees is considered a heat wave in New England. The ocean is considered warm when it hits 65 degrees.
“Yes it was a lovely summer,” goes the old saw. “The day was sunny, clear and beautiful.”
Another saying about summer is that it’s one of four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
Vermonters say their seasons are ‘nine months winter and three months of damn poor sleddin’.’
Mainers say they have two seasons: winter and August.
New England actually went without a summer in 1816, also known as “Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death.”
These days, true New Englanders know what it’s like to wear a parka and shorts at the same time.
Sometimes the only way to tell if it’s summer is to find out if the local Dairy Queen is open. Or if the people over 50 have returned from Florida.
Here, then, are a few of the things New Englanders used to say about summer:
Black flies will not disappear until after the first thunderstorm in June.
A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay.
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm of bees in July
Isn't worth a fly.
If it rains on the Fourth of July, the rest of the summer will be much wetter and colder than usual.
When the leaves of a poplar tree turn bottom-side up, it will rain within an hour.
If the sun rises red, the next day will be hot. If it sets red, it will not.
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