“Are we not all actors playing parts in another person’s play?”
My house was only 66˚ when I woke up. In the winter that’s cold but during this time of year it’s a pleasant, lovely morning. Today will be in the 70’s, but tomorrow the humidity will return with stifling air which will make moving uncomfortable and sweaty. No one is attractive in the humidity. We all wilt. Sunday will be the same but with a probability of rain.
My mother was always cold. She kept her house in the 70’s during the winter. The rest of us wore t-shirts and sandals and light pants. Her house was almost tropical. We complained, and she hated it when we did. Now, as I get older, I understand. Each winter I am colder than I had been the winter before. I keep the house at the same temperature it has been for years, but I need a sweatshirt. Long sleeves used to be enough. I think I am becoming my mother.
The other day my former Ghanaian student Franciska called. She likes to check to make sure I am doing well. She calls me her mother though I am only seven years older than she, but motherhood, to her, is a matter of principal, not age. I was her teacher, and that is enough to bestow motherhood on me.
When I am with Franciska, I notice she talks to anyone she can. She also introduces me to her new friends as her mother. They look a bit bewildered until Franciska explains I was her Peace Corps teacher 45 years ago. I cringe at the 45 but love that Peace Corps gets into the conversation. Anything that promotes the Peace Corps is just fine with me. Franciska often tells me she is still bewildered as to why volunteers actually agreed to go to Bolga. She says even Ghanaians don’t like Bolga. It is flat, almost treeless and hot, really hot, in the dry season. Back in my day there were no creature comforts, but I always figured that was just part of the Peace Corps experience: you take, even embrace, what you’re given.
My list is long today-errand day. I have four stops and not a single one of them is fun or exciting. Where’s the Ferris wheel when you need one?
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: beautiful day, cold winter, errand day, Ghana, hot, hot in the house, humidity, Peace Corps, pleasant moring, rain showers, stifling, sweatshirt, wilting in the heat
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July 17, 2015 at 1:36 pm
40,1F outside thie morning and it was actually quite nice since I wore a fleece sweater. The day has been very nice but it has felt cold all day even if it reached 68F and the sun shone most of it.
I’ve realised that I’m much more sensitive to heat than cold now days and I think it has to do with working beside a hot oven and hot and humid washing mashine all day. I can go outside in just a t-shirt at work when it is below 32 and enjoy it 🙂
The humidity will rise high tomorrow but tghen fall down like a stone the day after and I like that 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
July 17, 2015 at 6:04 pm
Christer,
We won’t see it as cold until maybe late October. It will get chillier come September but 40’s is more like winter than any there season.
I always say it is easier to be cold than hot. If you are cold, you can put on warmer clothes. If you are hot, there isn’t a whole lot you can do unless you have air conditioning.
The humidity here will be the same-stifling according to the weatherman.
Have a great evening.
July 17, 2015 at 2:22 pm
We rocked the Prince over to the park in Rochester last night. He blasted through the two playgrounds, found the ice-cream truck and listened to Yoopers in the band stand playing a very gentle form of jazz. The park was busy, the air was cool and the Prince was being the Prince.
This afternoon the Prince is gone, along with the morning rains. Our week of grand parenting is over. I amused myself asking him to rank various family members and pets in terms of coolness and included myself to be rated. With great glee he ranked his Pumpa last in each and every grouping and combination. He has reached the age where he likes to tease me – or, perhaps, tell me the truth. I might have to accept the fact that I am less cool that our 13 year old Westie.
We saw Minions, we liked it. We have made a lot of fuss about Shaun the Sheep being released next month. What he doesn’t know is that the movie was released in England in February and I will have a DVD copy before the first showing the US.
I haven’t run my sprinklers much this year, but its 90s ahead of us and I would guess that there will be hissing of summer lawns
July 17, 2015 at 6:14 pm
My Dear Hedley,
You filled the Prince’s last evening including goodies from an ice cream truck. I’m sure he wasn’t thrilled to go home.
I think he is pretty funny ranking you last given he knew you were looking to be pandered. A younger Price would have fallen into your trap, but the older Prince is wise to you.
That is very cool, even cooler than a Westie, that the Prince can see a movie even before it is released here. Those are huge bragging rights.
My landscaper is quite unhappy with my grass because it has been so dry here. He wants me to change my irrigation to every day instead of every other. I will oblige (love the hissing of summer lawns).
July 17, 2015 at 5:14 pm
Why would you cringe at the mention of 45 years? I love to tell people of the things I did 45 or more years ago. That world is complety gone but we are still here to talk about it. Remembing pay phones and gasoline at twenty two cents a gallon. Typewriters, telegrams and 45 RPM records amaze my young colleagues. The world is completely different and you and I saw and lived it. I’m planning on another 40 just to spite my children. I think it’s wonderful that you keep in touch with one of your Peace Corps. students.
Another lovely day here in São Paulo. Partly sunny skies and highs in the lower 70s. Tomorrow night I head back to Texas and the Sumer heat . It was nice to spend a week enjoying a very mild and pleasant winter. 🙂
July 17, 2015 at 6:23 pm
Bob,
The people to whom Franciska is talking are perfect strangers and we aren’t chatting about a world long gone; instead, Franciska is talking about me. They don’t need to know my biography.
I love that my students and I are still in contact. I would never have guessed that if you told me in 1971 when I left Ghana.
I love weather in the mid-70’s. It is just about perfect for me. You are definitely headed to heat!