Innit 'ot!

I'm not sure how long it will be before I melt but that day can't be far away!  The most important piece of equipment in my house (after the freezer) is the electric fan.  It's working non stop.  Out in the garden the fountain which is supposed to make me feel cooler when I hear the tinkling of water, sounds as though it is laughing at me.  (It is recirculating water, don't worry!)

I know many of you live in much warmer climes than we have here in Lincolnshire, but domestic air conditioning is pretty well unknown here.  We don't get enough hot weather to justify the expense.  

Last night I waited until after eight o'clock to go to the supermarket and even then it was noticeable that people were lingering in the chilled and frozen food aisles just to be in the cooler air.  

Yesterday morning I visited some friends who had come home early from their narrowboat because the dog just couldn't take the heat any more.  I have to say that the cool air in their stone cottage would have tempted me to stay at home too.  It was WONDERFUL!

Do you aestivate?

 

I did, last weekend.  Everything was just too much so I aestivated with just about everyone else.  It felt like the only thing to do.  Aestivation is essential for quite a few invertebrates but this vertebrate favours the idea too.

Aestivation is the summer equivalent of hibernation.  It's an adaptation for survival in high temperatures or drought conditions to stop desiccation (drying out) of the animal.  I just use the word for getting through a heatwave!

There are lots of wonderful words associated with summer.  It's the time of frondesence when leaves and plants are in full bloom.  It's a season to long for zephyrs, those lovely breezes.  (Am I showing my age too much when I say that zephyr makes me think of cars?)

I think I might be aestivating again by the end of this week

I don't like to moan but . . .

Innit 'ot?  I just don't do hot.  With cold I'm fine.  A few more layers of clothing and a wrap, nice hot soup and (keep this secret!) maybe have the heating on all day and cold is coped with.  Hot is a different matter.

I was rather glad that I didn't have a service to take today as it meant I could take the trundle truck up to church for the eight o'clock service.  Now church is comfortable.  Cool.  Quiet.  Lovely.

Anyway, less of this moaning.  I've had a pretty good week (with one ghastly exception) including a card making session at Mandy's.  Here you go.

The ghastly exception couldn't have been much more ghastly.  Auntie Hettie managed to fall out of her armchair while I was with her.  My cousin and I spent six hours in A & E with her.  She's got two really black eyes but no further injuries.  Old ladies of 92 just don't bounce.  

The best is yet to be

Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be,

The last of life, for which the first was made:

Our times are in his hand

Who saith, ``A whole I planned,

Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!'

That's by Robert Browning and that second line is often in my mind.  I would never have believed how good life is in these later years.  True, I have my aches and pains but life is truly glorious.

Each day, each week, each month brings its own glories and soon August will start.  One of the most wonderful things I have read on a blog this last month was someone's goal for the month.  She listed only one goal, just "Enjoy summer" and those two words have enriched July for me.  Thank you, Rivulet.

So I'm going to have "Enjoy summer" as my hope for August.  You may remember that I prefer hopes to goals.  I'm hoping to have a picnic at Normanby and maybe one at Clumber Park.  I'm hoping to sit in my swing and to smell not just the roses but the lavender and the sweet peas too.  Could life ever be any better?

It's too darn hot!

It’s just too hot!  I don’t do hot.  I do cold.  Cold is OK – if it’s too cold I can just pile on more layers, have hot stews and (don’t tell the frugal police) turn up the heating.  But hot is just plain tiring.

Saturdays in this household are always very deliberately quiet.  I invite no-one to come. The TV is off.  Meals are simple and as far as possible prepared in advance.  Saturdays are for creativity, for quiet, for thinking.  Today is just so hot that even thinking seems like hard work.

I’ve been getting on with Bobo’s new sweater and am on the second sleeve but knitting is uncomfortable.  My excuse is that Bob wouldn’t want a thick sweater in this weather anyway.  The pattern was fine until I knitted the sleeves and when I had finished one sleeve it was very obviously very wrong so I had to rewrite the pattern, something I’ve never tried before.   I just hope that when the cold weather comes, Bobo is suitably grateful