Out in the world beyond Aquidneck Island, there are arbitrary markers for the seasons. Summer hits the beach on Memorial Day and scuffles back to work on Labor Day. But here — because, perhaps, we still have a deep connection to our agricultural heritage — Summer begins with the hayride at Touch-a-Truck and the season ends with a hayride at the Harvest Fair.

Yeah, this is a pastoral Saturday post. I'm taking a day off from snark.

Today was Jack's first Little League game, a just-for-fun coach-pitch outing with parents sitting on blankets and lawn chairs and cheering every play. Then we wandered over to Glen Farm to climb around on trucks, blast the siren on a police car, get brain freeze from Del's, and ride around the field pulled by Escobar's tractor. The most political I'll get is to say what a great idea this is for supporting the Library.

No, I take that back. I will say something political. I will thank, deeply, all the volunteers who make this community what it is. Whether it's the folks who take time off from work to coach Little League, or who keep the Library working, or the hundreds of people in the PTOs that do the things that nobody sees but everyone would miss, or the unsung heroes on the boards and commissions, councils and committees, who keep moving the flag forward, meeting by meeting. All the folks who say, yeah, I'll pitch in.

These people — us — are what make this the best place in the world to live. Give yourself a hand. And take a well-earned Saturday afternoon nap.