Temps drop and Sam climbs

Yesterday was beautiful. The sky was a crisp blue with no trace of haze or smog, the air was warm but not humid, and there was a slightly cool breeze coming off the water just enough to brush the hair back from my face. It couldn't have been more than 80-85 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, folks). In places of the world with four seasons, it would be your typical spring day.

But Abu Dhabi is a land of one season, summer, that expresses itself in varying degrees of warmth. It does get really pleasant from December to February, or even March, akin to early summer in Boston where you might need a light jacket at night. But for the rest of the year, afternoon temperatures nearly always reach above 100 degrees. Any exceptions are gifts that quickly expire, so it is imperative to take advantage of them.

We got iced lattes and went to one of the city's numerous public parks, which for some odd reason was completely deserted aside from us and the pigeons. We sat on a bench in a sunny patch amidst the trees and listened to the water feature trickling behind us, just soaking in the delightfulness of being comfortable outside in the middle of the day, trying to commit it to memory for when it becomes necessary to hibernate again.

Then I pointed to a tree a few yards away and said wistfully to Sam, "Don't you just want to climb it?"

He did.