My father would say it’s a scorcher. It is already 88° with 70% humidity. The cape is always cooler than near Boston in the summer so today is uncharacteristically hot for this early in the summer. My back door has a southern view so if there is a breeze, it comes from there, and I can feel one very now and then. Nala is lying in the hall to take advantage of that breeze. Poor boxers with their short noses don’t do as well as other dogs in the heat. Henry is stretched out in the kitchen by the back door. Both are asleep.

My mother always kept the shades down in every room on hot days. The house was a bit cooler but seemed cave-like in the darkness. I don’t have shades in my windows so the sun travels around the house and comes through the windows from front to back. I am in the back of the house so it is the coolest spot most of the day.

I was on a drill team for years. Every summer we had competitions on the weekends. Our uniforms had long sleeves, and the skirts too were long and were heavy. We wore boots. We’d stand outside in the sun waiting for our turn on the field. We’d start on the third line, move to the inspection line then on to the ready line. Marchers fainted. I remember one of my friends fainting on the ready line. They hauled her off so we could start. Nothing deterred us. If someone fainted on the field during maneuvers, you just had to sort of walk around or over them. If you didn’t, you could lose cadence and step counts which could result in a lower score. We were hardy souls back then.

I have no intention of doing anything today. It is the perfect day for all of us to embrace our inner sloths. Let’s find a big branch on a leafy tree and just lie in the shade. If we need a snack, we can just grab a leaf and take our time eating it. We can listen to the birds and nap a bit. If only….

The morning is sunny and cool. A strong breeze is rolling the leaves on the oak trees. The birds are loud. The dogs are enjoying their morning naps curled on the couch. The weather, though, will probably change as there is a 68% chance of thunder showers starting this afternoon and continuing into the evening. The winds could be as high as 28 mph. I am a fan of thunder showers.

This will be a quiet week. My dance card is empty until Saturday. Because I have plenty of time this whole week to loll, I’m thinking of giving my sloth a bit of a vacation today. My house creates dust. Somewhere a machine is hiding in the walls manufacturing dust balls and strewing them about. The machine is run by a maniacal dust monster. My upstairs is a domestic dust bowl and needs to be vacuumed. Dust flies when I walk down the stairs. The hall I vacuumed two days ago needs the vacuum again.

The house where I did most of my growing up was actually small, but to me, it was big enough. The living room was the biggest room. It held a couch, two soft chairs, a table in front of the picture window, a TV in the corner and a desk against the wall behind the front door. The closet beside the desk was where my father always hung his top coat and put his fedora on the shelf. The kitchen was really small. The table and chairs were jammed beside a window. The fridge dominated the kitchen. I remember my father defrosting that fridge. He used a hammer and a screw driver to knock the ice off the sides. My father and tools were always dangerous. I don’t specifically remember, but I suspect he probably cut his fingers. The back door was beside the fridge. It had a screen door which always slammed unless you held it to close. The upstairs hall was tiny. Crowded around it were three bedrooms and the bathroom. I remember lying on the threshold of one of the rooms, my brother lying on another and my father on the third. We had flashlights and sent each other messages by Morse code. My father has taught it to us. He had been a signalman in World War II. In my room, my double bed was against one wall, and the other end of it almost touched another wall. I usually crossed over the bed to get to the closet and the bureau. I loved that I had a window at the foot of my bed. I got so see the morning first hand.