“Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes.”
No rain is in sight, and in Boston it got to 100°. We were cooler but not by a whole lot. I hated it, but I had to go to Hyannis yesterday. The air conditioner was on in the car but it just wasn’t enough. The sun beat through the windows and sucked up all that cool air. I stayed in my allergists’ office longer than I needed. It was the coldest place I’d been all day.
The deck has a slight breeze, and I’m headed there as soon as I finish. I bought a couple of books yesterday, perfect reasons for sitting on the deck with a cold drink, my feet up and the rest of me immersed in a murder.
I left my bedroom air conditioner on. Gracie does not abide the heat well so when she starts her panting, we’re heading upstairs.
My mother used to keep the shades down when I was a kid. All the rooms resembled caves. She said it kept the sun away and the rooms cooler. I remember going inside to get a drink and not being able to see until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. It was even worse going back outside when I had to cover my eyes because of the brightness of the sun. My mother was never one for sun. She wore sunglasses all summer for years. We used to call her the mole.
My mother used to make Zarex pops, and I’d sit on the back step slurping it before the sun got it. I always loved popsicles. They were pure relief for a parched mouth on a hot day. I bought some when I last went shopping, but mine have gone upscale and are now juice bars. I bought two favorites: lemon and coconut. I would have bought root beer popsicles, but there weren’t any. They’ll still my favorite.
Languid is about the best I’ll do today.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
July 7, 2010 at 11:16 am
I think I take after your Mom as far as the sun goes. I’ve been accused of being a mole on many occasions. The doctor is forcing me out into the sun for a half hour a day. How bad is that? Jamie stands guard at the door as I insist it must have been 30 minutes by now. He tells me it’s only been ten. He’s given me a break during the heat wave, though. I was taking my lunches outside and actually enjoying people watching. If we ever get below 90 again I’ll head out. I think…don’t want to get too crazy…I may have a tan starting.
Enjoy the murder!! OH, book recommendation. Just finished The Given Day be Dennis LeHane. Takes place in Boston just after WWI. Has Babe Ruth, Molasses Flood, Flu, Police Strike and riots. Excellent characters. Just loved it.
Erin
July 7, 2010 at 11:37 am
Now here is a nice idea for a sweltering Wednesday – a book recommendation…here is mine – Graham Robb’s “Parisians, An Adventure History of Paris”. Anecdotal, well written, entertaining – well worth your $15 down the ol’ amazon.
July 7, 2010 at 9:46 pm
My Dear Hedley,
You do cost me money! I take all those recommendations to Amazon! I do enjoy anecdotal books and novels.
July 7, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Erin,
At some point she finally gave up the sunglasses. I agree with your doctor-you’re missing all that important vitamin D. Now that you’re getting so much older!!!! you need all those wonderful vitamins!
I liked all Lehane’s other books-thanks for letting me know he has another.
July 7, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I remember Zarex but it was more a drink of my late pre-teen years. I was wondering if it was still available.
When I was a kid my mother and aunt took turns hosting the daily back yard visits during the summer. When it was at my aunt’s, my mother would walk us over there. My middle brother and I were supposed to keep hold of my youngest brother’s carriage while we walked. I think that was supposed to keep us from running into the street or something. We spent the summer afternoons playing in the yard, not caring about the heat, drinking iced Kool-Aid out of those tall aluminum glasses. My mother and aunt would sit in the shade talking and watching us.
July 7, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Caryn,
Zarex, or bug juice as my dad called it, went everywhere with us: the beach, the drive-in and long car rides. We never drank Kool-aid.
We had those aluminum glasses too. When My mother passed away, my sister brought them to Colorado so the next generation could use them.
July 7, 2010 at 2:34 pm
I think my mother thought it easier to give me some money so I could by an icecream instead :-)But I do remember that she froze some löemonade in the freezer once or twice 🙂
Summertime is murder time 🙂 Have You read “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane? If not You simply have to! It´s disturbingly good 🙂
Cooler here now, but not as much as i would like as long as I work. But morning temperatures are down to normal again, so it´s quite nice to have the kitchen door open before i go to work 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
July 7, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Christer,
We got money too when Johnny the ice Cream man came in the afternoon. Sometimes we got popsicles, and, if my mother had money, we get a novelty which is what they called stuff like ice cream sandwiches.
I did read Shutter Island and was totally surprised by the ending.
Still damn hot here.
July 7, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Your note on popsicles reminded me of the days when we would wait for the “ice cream boy” to peddle his bicycle-driven cart down our street. I loved orange popsicles. Still do. And, when I could talk my grandparents out of a little extra change, I would opt for the more expensive drumstick ice cream treat.
And, as I got a little older, I noticed the ice cream boys more than the ice cream. I found it amusing to learn, late in my marriage, that my hubby had been an ice cream boy for a few summers.
July 7, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Rita,
We called ours the Ice Cream Man as it was a man named Johnny. I remember he had one of those coin holders on his belt and always wore chinos, mostly gray.
They were never kids for us.
July 7, 2010 at 5:01 pm
“We used to call her the mole.”
Thank you for my laugh out loud moment today …
s
July 7, 2010 at 9:53 pm
You are very welcome! S
July 7, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I love banana popsicles, it has been hot here as well.
injured my back somehow yesterday, so today has been a lost day, working on adding pictures from vacation, they are on the smugmug site.
July 7, 2010 at 9:54 pm
splendid,
I remember them, but I don’t think we had them too often as a choice. Root beer first then cherry second for me.
I’m sorry about your back. That is the worst sort of injury!
Get better!!!!
July 7, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Kat, that’s a great way to spend the day. I too remember those god awful blinds in summer and the darkness to the rooms at high noon. But up north we had very cold basements with only those small case windows which were either colored so no one could see in or had a crystal snow type pattern that let in a little light but never interfered with what we came to know as “down in the dungeon”. We kids played there in the real heat of August mostly because the humidity was terrible in Northern Virginia. Still is.
July 7, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Z&Me,
It was a great day on the deck. By the afternoon there was even a breeze. Gracie slept behind me in the shade.
Our cellars always smelled a bit moldy from the humidity. The dehumidifier eliminated that problem, but we’d forget to empty it. I have regular size windows in my cellar, and I still need the dehumidifier.
July 7, 2010 at 8:50 pm
We have to draw our blinds when the sun is at is peak or our a/c would never go off. It’s dark in here a few ours a day these days.
Had to google Zarex–sounded like your mother was giving you tranquilizer popsicles. (Maybe she was anyway!) Found out it’s a NE thing that went out of production but then came back just a few months ago.
July 7, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Ralph,
I don’t even have blinds. It is probably some subconscious reaction to growing up in a cave.
Zarex came in a glass jug with a handle. Orange was my favorite flavor.