I went to my local beer and wine distributor last weekend. I had hoped to get a few six-packs of summer ale. Last year around this time they were looking to unload it and what would have normally cost me twenty dollars or more only amounted to eight dollars for two six-packs. No such luck this year.

There was only one six-pack to be had and, while it was a good brand, it wasn’t my Long Island favorite Blue Point Summer Ale.

So, there I was with a little more than a month left of summer and summer ale was no longer available. To make matters worse there were big displays of Pumpkin Ale.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Pumpkin Ale and can’t wait to have some, but there’s something antithetical to me to be drinking an autumnal brew when it is 90 degrees. Of course, it probably will still be 90 degrees here in Florida when the calendar morphs from summer to fall, but at least I will have the pretense of drinking an autumnal ale at the appropriate time.

Buying Pumpkin Ale in the summer would be akin to decorating for Halloween in the summer. Well, my next stop on my shopping spree took me to Lowes which had huge displays of all types of Halloween decorations.

I know merchandising is big business and you always have to be a season ahead to entice shoppers and to reach your quarterly quotas, but it just doesn’t seem decent to be pushing Halloween when you haven’t made it to September.

And now that it is finally September will the Christmas displays be far away? You can bet your credit card balance  that they are in the pipeline even as we prepare for Labor Day.

Then there are the hurricanes.

Just when you are beginning to rest easy thinking that you might be escaping another hurricane season a storm crops up on the radar sending us all into panic mode. We have been watchinghurricanes for weeks , and while they have stayed away from Florida’s shores shifting, you can’t rest easy until you see the calendar change to November and even then you are on the lookout.

But still, if I only had a little more Summe Ale, my hurricane angst might not seem so bad.

If that were the only thing to worry about this Labor Day weekend, Florida and the Southeastern coast would rest easy. But 2020 has provided us with a host of worries not including hurricanes.

Be well.

Stay safe.