“Indifference is the strongest contempt.”
The morning is sunny and the temperature is near perfect at 70˚. A strong, warm breeze blows every now and then. The backyard is so filled with leafy trees I can’t even see the sky through the branches. With the windows opened, I can hear the birds and even some trucks, probably landscapers of which the cape had thousands, maybe even millions.
Yesterday I crossed a couple of things off my to-do list. I watered the plants and put the front door screen in. I left the back door screen for another day because it still gets a little chilly at night, and that door is open all the time for the dogs. The storm door was heavy so I didn’t lift it but moved it corner to corner across the floor and down the steps. We both survived, the door and I.
I have a long to-do list but not energy to finish it. My leg is better and hurts only in the morning for a very short while and at night after a day of using it so it is no longer an excuse. The truth is I also lack the ambition. Like Scarlett, “I’ll think about it tomorrow…After all, tomorrow is another day.”
When I was a kid, school wound down by mid-June. On the last day, we got our report cards. I remember looking around and watching kids’ expressions to see if they were promoted or not. I never saw anyone who was kept back, but maybe they just went to the public school instead. We had so many kids in class mostly nobody would be missed. We had close to fifty per class when I was in the eighth grade. It was surprisingly quiet given we had Sister Hildegarde who noticed very little. I used to leave at lunch and always got back late. She never cared. I was one of her favorites. I would tell her I was leaving usually to the library and she’d say okay so I’d leave early, sometimes by an hour or two. I didn’t go to the library.
I used to fill the metal basket of my bike with things I’d find along the road. Sometimes I found golf balls errantly sent across the street from the course and not retrieved. I found oddly shaped branches. Other times it was pieces of metal, their prior uses unknown. Once in a while I’d find a lone Christmas bulb probably left for dead. Bulbs were favorite finds. I used to keep my treasures in a box except for the bigger finds which were on my bureau. Even now I decorate with dead bulbs. They add a bit of color to the oval trencher in the center of the dining room table.
Yesterday I was sitting on the couch when Nala checked out the recycle bag and right in front of me stole a folded box of Effie’s Cocoa Biscuits. With it in her mouth, she looked fleetingly at me wondering what I’d choose to do then she turned and left, briskly trotting down the hall in case I was chasing. I wasn’t. It was defensive indifference. The box is on the driveway.
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June 16, 2022 at 1:09 pm
I think we reached 69 today and that’s just enough for me 🙂 It’s fun because every morning starts with a few minutes of sunshine, then clouds comes and covers the sky for a couple of hours. After that we’ll have cloud free skies until around 6pm when clouds arrive again. Every day this week has been the same. Warm enough to keep the door open well in to the evening though so I’m quite happy.
I’m glad Your leg feels better!
Have a great day!
Christer.
June 16, 2022 at 8:18 pm
Hi Christer,
It was a coolish day today. It is only 63˚right now. Maybe we’ll get rain around three or four AM. Tomorrow will have thunder storms.
The nights are cooler than the days which I like. Sometimes it is cool enough to shut the windows. I like that too. The dogs prefer the cool weather as they run crazy in the yard.
This is a nice time of the year here.
June 16, 2022 at 8:04 pm
I already wrote about our cheap summer train tickets and yesterday we took a ride to an old town not too far away. First an open-air museum with 17th century historical buildings and crafts including a windmill and an old village school, – one teacher, one classroom for up to 130 children. Additionally a walk by the lake and we also visited the old downtown. Rail traffic was slightly chaotic yesterday but we managed to get back home at midnight.
Do you like to virtually travel along? This was yesterday’s destination:
June 16, 2022 at 8:26 pm
Birgit,
Great tour-thanks!! You saw a lot in a single day. It is no wonder you got home at midnight.
I do love the old city. The buildings are what I imagined the buildings should be with all their neat angles on the tops.
There were no crowds on the video. There should be mots and lots of people!!
Thanks, again!
June 16, 2022 at 9:59 pm
Hi Kat,
The heatwave is on full blast. Today we only reached 98° with some clouds in the morning and full sun in the afternoon. Tomorrow and over the weekend the temperature should top out in the low 100° range. We had a heatwave in May with little rain and June is resembling Mid July or August. You know it’s hot when the low temperature in the morning is 81° and at nine at night it’s down to a cool 93°.
When I was out in Phoenix in August a couple of years ago, the afternoon high temperatures were in the 112° to 115° range. It was so hot that I had to run the AC in the car for more than five minutes to cool down the steering wheel so I could drive the car. Everyone in the Valley of the Sun says, but it’s a dry heat. So is putting your head in a hot oven. 🙂
I’m glad to hear that your leg is doing better. Nala is getting bolder in her kleptomaniac games.
June 16, 2022 at 11:01 pm
Hi Bob,
I lived through that sort of heat in Bolga, but I was younger and better able to deal with it. The dry season was often in the 90’s and low 100’s. The only relief was in December when the desert winds blew all day and then the nights, like desert nights, were cold, down 30˚ less than the day. I needed a blanket. The worst was when the humidity started to return and the days were still grossly hot. That weather was almost intolerable.
I have only been in Phoenix twice, once in February and the other over Thanksgiving on my way to my niece’s soccer tournament. Both times were warm, even hot, especially November. I like having different seasons.
I think Nala wanted me to chase her. It is a game she never loses, and she loves it. The box is still exactly where she left it and it is untouched. It was just a prop.
June 17, 2022 at 8:38 am
Places all across the sunbelt from Georgia to Phoenix have grown because of the widespread use of air conditioning. When we first moved to Dallas in 1953 the population might have been 500,000 and Ft. Worth maybe 300,000. Today the entire DFW Metropolitan Area is around 7.5 million people. Thank you air conditioning.
June 17, 2022 at 2:06 pm
I knew about all the air conditioning but never gave it much thought it being so far away from me. I imagine as each area grows and the demands get bigger, they’ll be more brown outs. Two of my neighbors had full house AC’s put in this spring. Both surprised me. One is at the rental. The second house isn’t filled all summer, mostly just weekends when the owners come down. I guess AC will make the rental more expensive.