Hot enough for you? Summer blasts its way in -- and we've got it in cartoon form

New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff adds a note of caution to this vision of paradise conjured by Roz Chast: "Don’t try this at home unless this is in your home." (Note: You should be able to enlarge tonight's cartoon's a little -- like from 420 to 465 pixels wide -- by clicking on them. You'll have to make this call for yourself.)

by Ken

Sorry, this is just another of those days when the thought of any of the things I could and perhaps should be writing about just makes me too crazy, and it's a day when I felt obliged to take off from work even though that meant making the tradeoff of settling for a fan blowing in my face rather than the frigid air conditioning of my office, on one of those days when the frigid air conditioning feels like a blessing, at least when you first come inside. (We all know that when winter is safely behind us, it's time to schlepp all the cold-weather gear -- the sweaters, the woolen caps, the parkas -- into the office.)

Luckily for me, New Yorker cartoon editor today served up a summer-themed weekly blogpost-slash-e-newsletter, "Summer Is Icumen In," leading off with the above-posted Roz Chast vision of summer paradise.

Since we already have a sort of "office motif" going, let's start out with a cartoon of Bob's own:



And as I contemplated dragging my torpid body to work for the sake of the summer deep freeze, David Sipress seems to have capture something close to what I was feeling about the stay-at-home alternative:



There are, of course, inconveniences here in the city particular to every season:



Meanwhile, for those who are able to escape the mean city streets of summer, I assume you've got your Summer Reading List assembled for the beach. Here's a title you may want to add:



It's not true that New Yorkers don't drive. Lots of us don't, but then there are the unstoppables who do, and who -- especially in Manhattan -- regularly confront the ongoing horror that is NYC parking. But as with many things, there are seasonal variations:



Stay cool!

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