too hot to trot

Last summer, I was home nearly every day, and we had a cool and comfy summer, mostly. We don't have air conditioning, so I notice these things. We're always teetering on the edge of getting at least a room air conditioner, but for various reasons, mostly having to do with being puritans and luddites, we never do. And then the heat is gone and we don't think about it again.

We usually have a few short heat waves up here, and truer to form, we've had a few super miserable days this year, when I've been home two work days a week. Having grown up in Washington without air conditioning (the southern equivalent of the New England hard-luck story in which you had to walk two miles to school, in the snow, uphill, both ways), I've developed some reserves around heat, mostly by sitting very very still until the temps drop again.

Last week, it was so hot than even when I sat still, I was drenched. (The cat, of course, found this attribute absolutely magnetic and wanted to snuggle, but fortunately she's fairly tiny.) Tuesday, it got even hotter -- the outside thermometer in my car registered 100 degrees at one point. But because the air was relatively dry, at least for someone who grew up east of the Mississippi, it was fine. Yesterday, though, was more on the beastly side -- the car thermometer registered 98, and it was definitely more humid.

And then, after a peaceful, blue-skied day, the winds picked up. By the time I got home, it was dark at an odd time. We heard a short rumble, the rains moved in, and the temperature has dropped. We're in for a couple of cool days, or so we hear.