EDITORIAL - Slipping summer: Eat a peach, go to a drive-in -- before it's too late

The local strawberries are gone and the local peaches are just coming in. This is terrible.

The peaches drip juice all over, but that's not the problem. The problem is that local peaches mean half of summer already has ticked away. No, we're not counting those weeks between Labor Day and the first official day of autumn, Sept. 22. We're talking the real summer, the time when school's out and traffic is light and the evenings run well past dinnertime.

Three Rivers Arts Festival? Over. Regatta? Gone.

School starts in a month and the to-do list is crowded: Idlewild Park, Beach 11 at Presque Isle, rafting on the Yough, biking the Montour Trail.

And that's just the daytime activities. Movies on Flagstaff Hill, concerts in South Park and Hartwood Acres, drive-in movies -- yes, they still exist. There are three to choose from in Pittsburgh's western suburbs, Dependable in Moon, Twin Hi-way in McKees Rocks and Kane Road in Hopewell. The seasonal ice cream stands, as well as the ice ball vendors, are open for business.

None of these activities costs very much, a consideration in these depressing -- recessing? -- times. Put the bad news aside for an afternoon or an evening or both. Sure, gas is more than $2.50 a gallon but, hey, it was $4 last year. Fill 'er up and head out for some summer fun.

It will be over before you know it. Just 151 days 'til Christmas.