Some of these are work in progress/ Click on a Gallery in the left hand pane, then click on an image to expand it on the screen ...

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are usually not our first association to this season of sprawling daylight hours. Summertime, after all, is when "the livin' is easy." It's when we re­connect with the nearly forgotten sensation of bright, hot sunshine and fresh air playing on our bared skin, just before thrilling to the splash of cooling water. We envision bright blue skies, a beaming solar disc, and perhaps a few wisps of high lofting clouds. Pleasurable, to be sure, but far from a full or complete picture of the season. To round that out, we asked our contributing photographers to share their views of the darker, moodier side of summertime skies, from Paris to the heartland of the American Midwest, where nature has been wont to put its massive powers on display. Our thanks to Gabriel M. Aguirre, Frank S. Hutton, Gina Kelly and C. Mannheim for expanding our repertoire of seasonal imagery throughout the pages of this issue. [We also welcome Peter Berman's first time, videographic contribution to LW's on­line edition.*] Maia Cavelli