How is everyone? Are you able to cope with the present heat wave?
I've said before, the first three years we were here, the weather was glorious. Yes, it got hot in the summer, of course. There were, perhaps, three or four days throughout the entire summer where the temperature went about 90 degrees. And, the humidity was low. So....it was hot, but not awful, not unbearable.
Needless to say, that has changed. I was hoping we might be in a little pocket that got through this mess without terrible consequences, but that was just wishful thinking.
We are now stuck in a "heat dome" and the wind is coming from Africa. Hot wind. And we are in a drought situation, so the water is turned off every night at 10 pm and returns at 6 am. Before 10pm the pressure diminishes. A reminder? Or is that just the way it has to be?
Since our building is very old, we cannot have an air conditioner installed. There is nowhere to put it where it can work properly. We have a portable air conditioner in the kitchen (again, the only place it can be) which is okay because it sends cool air down the main hallway to the bedroom and living room.
We have fans everywhere else. And we just put up a cabana curtain outside the kitchen, which is the double glass door to the balcony. No view, but the sun is blocked. The SUN!!!! Yes, of course! The idiots last year who tore down all the trees and greenery outside our bedroom window....the idiots who exposed the whole side of our place and the balcony to total sun! Whoever those stupid bastards were, they made the place MUCH hotter. They made the balcony sunnier which is actually scorching some of the plants and also makes it impossible for us to be out there at the height of the day. And that is not to mention how we lost the birds. We had chickadees and several varieties of finches and sparrows, and the pigeons and crows. Now there are only pigeons and crows. I don't care for the pigeons. I like the crows.
Crows are smart and they take care of each other. They have community. On these hot mornings, fresh water is put out in the bath while they watch from a tree down on the passeggiata. Then, one by one, they come for a drink. Not one of them bathes or splashes around. No water waste. Each one drinks and leaves and another one swoops in. They have a system.
Funny, when I was a kid and even well into adulthood, summer was my favorite season. Now I dread it. It seems to be morphing into a nightmare everywhere.
The poor cats are limp. They just sleep after their breakfast....no playing in the tubes, no "mousey" for Scruff.
Dinner is pasta or potato salad with something on a roll, be it tuna or turkey, cheese or maybe egg salad.....uninspired but cool and easy.
There might be some rain heading here in a day or two. Hopefully. Maybe. Meanwhile, this misery drags on. Glad there are things to watch on the computer and books to read. But it is difficult to pull out of the lethargy these temperatures induce.
Back in high school we used to have "field day" every year. A whole day outside taking part in various activities. I fainted. I can't remember what it was I was doing at the time, I just remember being in the nurse's office, on a cot with a cold compress on my head. I had to wait for my mother to drive me home. I imagine "field days" now must be downright dangerous and it's horrible to read about moronic parents leaving kids in hot cars, or football playing kids passing out during practices.
I hope people are learning to adjust to the present situation. I, myself, have little confidence...none, really, that anything is going to get better. **sigh** But we soldier on. What choice is there?
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