“The thing with heat is, no matter how cold you are, no matter how much you need warmth, it always, eventually, becomes too much.”
The morning is hot. It is already 80˚. The high will be 85˚. My AC is cranking. The dogs are chasing each other up and down the hall, not my favorite playtime activity for them. I usually say take it outside, but it is too hot. They are out and back inside quickly. It is almost time for morning naps.
Henry needs his nails trimmed. He saw me put the nail cutter on the table, and he took off to parts unknown. Henry is too smart to be duped more than once. I’ll have to be more creative.
When I was a kid, I never took a nap. There were so many places to visit and so much to do every day that sleeping the afternoon away never occurred to me. I was in college when I first started taking naps. They were mostly so I could study through the night. In Ghana, even in the afternoon heat, I took a nap. The whole town took a nap. My students had a rest time in their dorms. The post office closed for a couple of hours. Everything slowed down in town. I sometimes did kiosk shopping in the hot afternoon. The kiosks only closed late at night. I bought margarine, canned milk, instant coffee, toilet paper and bagged sugar and flour.
My first view of Ghana was on the bus ride from the airport to our training site. The kiosks caught my attention. I have two pictures out the bus window of these roadside mini-marts lining the sidewalks on both sides. Some looked like large boxes with shelves and two doors while others were just wood framed. They sold all sorts of things, and many of them sold all the same items of food and tickets for the lotto. I never understood how anybody could make money from a kiosk.
In my town, there weren’t as many kiosks. I always stopped at the ones right in the center of town across the street from the store with cold Cokes. I used a shepherd’s bag to carry my goods. It was woven and it stretched. I remember putting a shepherd’s bag on each handlebar of my motorcycle for even weight. The bags were stretched so much that the cans weighed down at the bottom. I kept banging my knees on the hanging bags.
I was going to the dump today, but it is far too hot to toss heavy trash bags. I do have a couple of errands so I’ll be going out later. I’ll be running from the cold car to cold buildings so I’ll have to contend with foggy glasses though I figure that’s a small price to pay for comfort.
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August 12, 2021 at 2:43 pm
Hi Kat,
Too Hot? Here 85° can be the low temperature early in the morning. 🙂 Today is clear again with a predicted high of 98°. Still below the century mark but also humid.
I used to think that the Texas Rangers stank because they played all their home games outdoors at night when the temperature might get down to close to 90° by ten o’clock. That myth has been disproven because this year they stink indoors in 72° comfort. Now I have to blame their horrible play on the fact that they carry the records of the old Washington Senator baseball team. You remember, “Washington, first in war, first in peace and last in the American League”. 🙂
Lots a lot of third world country’s allow kiosks to operate along roads and streets. I imagine you must have been quite a sight in your town. A white woman on a motorcycle with straw bags filled with cans banging on your knees. I’m adventurous and I might try street food from a kiosk and then I might regret it later. 😦
August 12, 2021 at 10:48 pm
Hi Bob,
Today was about as hot as it has gotten all summer. Luckily there was a breeze which made being outside bearable. Boston got far hotter than here, as usual.
I remember the Senators. I thought it was a great choice for the team’s name. The combination of place and name actually made sense. I’ve seen several pictures of presidents throwing out the first pitch of the season for the Senators. Truman looks great throwing the ball.
The street food was cooked over charcoal on a grill for the most part. I ate a lot of street food and never got sick. It was great tasting food.
Actually the bags are threaded rather than straw so they had a great deal of elasticity straw didn’t have. Given I was the only white woman in town for my first year, everybody knew who I was. I was in town a lot. I enjoyed the market.
August 12, 2021 at 7:00 pm
The region where I live was known for kiosks at nearly every corner but many of them are gone now. Workers and neighbors met and used to buy newspapers, beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets and more and kids bought sweets. We often went to an old kiosk after school and bought a mixed bag of candies. This old former kiosk is part of our mining history and an official landmark now. Times change but I think I still have 4 kiosks within 5-min walking distance. I don’t know how they manage to survive.
Just a normal summer day here. School will start next week.
Happy dump day!
August 12, 2021 at 11:22 pm
Hi Birgit,
The dump trip was successful. There were few cars, but it was hot. I swear the dump is the hottest spot in summer and the coldest in winter.
We used to have corner newspaper vendors. They had small stores which sold almost the same things your kiosks sold. I often spent my pennies at one of those stores.
I’m sorry there are no kiosks here. I don’t think there have ever been kiosks along the sides of the road here.
It was hot here today. I was out for a couple of hours and was so happy to get home to the cool house. School starts after Labor Day in September.
August 13, 2021 at 1:01 pm
WE have a rather pleasant weather over here. Some rain every now and again but mostly partly cloudy and around 68F. Can’t really complain about that 🙂
I haven’t tried to trim Alma’s nails yet but she doesn’t react at all when I hold her paws so I doubt it’ll be any problem.
Have a great day!
Christer.
August 14, 2021 at 7:56 pm
Hi Christer,
We are in the middle of a really hot week. Today was as hot as it has been here all summer. I stayed in the cool air of the house.
Henry usually doesn’t mind me cutting his nails so I wonder why now. I’ll have to give it another try. They are long.
Enjoy your Sunday!!