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….

This entry was posted on July 2, 2026 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.