thrilling heat wave

It’s hovering around 90 degrees here today (the time and temperature signs are reporting everything from 90 to 98, my desktop weather thing says it’s 90, Ray says it’s 88) and I believe I’ve died and gone to heaven. The skies are blue, it’s not raining, and it’s 90 degrees!!!!!

I know, I know. I’m SO in the minority here. Everyone else is whining about heatstroke. But everyone else gets to have their favorite weather the other 363 days of the year. Snow from October till May, 60 degree days in July, monsoons, blizzards, fog, etc etc. We don’t even need air conditioning here – I’ve never lived anywhere with air conditioning in this place. Generally we don’t even drag the fan out. At most, I’ll open the deck door and turn on the ceiling fan. It’s NEVER hot here. This is a rare and wondrous event, seeing the thermometer hitting 90!

So, I’m the only one in town who’s excited about this, but I’m happy enough to make up for everyone else’s whining. And better enjoy it while it lasts. It will probably snow next week.

And since I’m so giddy with the joy of summer weather, I think I’ll do my Tag From Falling Dog that is also my Tag From Marg since hers (on relaxing) are incorporated into Falling Dog’s. FINALLY.

Five things I’m currently enjoying:

1. The blast of blazing, very atypical, summer sunshine.

2. Reading the latest TR Pearson book, Glad News of the Natural World which I was SO delighted to see reviewed in the Sunday paper week before last, since I had managed not to realize he had a new one coming out. Even better, its narrator is the boy from his first book, and my very favorite, A Short History of a Small Place, now 34 and living in New York City instead of teeny Neely NC. Best of all, it’s hilarious and he hasn’t lost his touch. One of his more recent books was disappointing – he hadn’t written a novel in seven years and had been writing for magazines and doing screenplays, and this one, Blue Ridge, was so non-TR Pearsonlike that I’d have never known it was him if I’d just picked it up and read a page at random. He’s a very distinctive writer.

Well, here – here’s a random bit about his father’s second cousin Spencer, whose mother dies and leaves behind a closet full of very nice dresses and suits that she never wore. So Spencer takes to wearing his mother’s clothes around town and Louis and his father run into him at the grocery store, where the townspeople are in a tizzy.

“Because I was in the company of my father alone, I wasn’t discouraged from gaping at Spencer, who served, at that point in my life, as a pretty singular sight…Spencer was a curious thing to see, as he’d made no discernible effort to render himself girlish. He’d left alone his thinning cowlicky head of barbered hair. He’d kept his moustache, was wearing his chunky Bulova and his Masonic ring. I could see peeking out from the collar of his blouse a bit of his cotton T-shirt, and I felt certain he had on beneath his skirt his customary briefs. He’d applied no rouge or lip gloss. His nails were ragged and unpainted, and as he talked to my father, he raised by his pump-clad feet in turn and buffed his shoe tops against his calves.”

He does such a perfect job at capturing the oddities of small-town, southern life. I’m doing my best to take my time reading it. That’s working pretty well, actually, as I seem to get very little reading done these days. I’m only halfway through.

3. Sitting out on the deck. Which I was doing earlier, but have had to abandon due to mosquitoes the size of aircraft carriers. I’m too lazy to find the mosquito coil stuff. So I probably shouldn’t say I’m doing it right now. (I should also probably note that I started this at work, at around 3, but of course was interrupted by multiple crises and now it’s 8:30.) I particularly like sitting out on the deck at night with a fire in the chiminea, although it’s (YAY!!!) too warm for that tonight.

4. Ummm…. breathing? I’m not really doing anything but lying here on the couch with the laptop. I do enjoy this, though. Oh, I’m drinking a lovely concoction of lime juice, seltzer water, a little sugar syrup, and fresh mint (which is about all there is in my “garden” – it’s all mint and lemon verbena. And some green tomatoes that do actually look somewhat promising.) Really, it’s a mojito without the rum. It’s VERY good, even rumless.

Of course, I’m not reading right this minute either. Yes, I AM trying to make this as confusing as it is possible to be.

5. The nice long summer evenings, complete with fireflies.

Five things that relax me:

1. Sitting on the deck. Either in the summery sun, or at night with a chiminea fire going. Lots of stars. And no neighbors within hearing, especially the ones whose children are apparently going through a Wailing Banshee stage. They’re really cute kids, but do not appear to ever stop screaming. And I can hear them all too well with everybody’s doors and windows open.

2. Being at the beach. Walking on the beach, lying on the beach, looking at the ocean.

3. Taking long meandering drives with no point or specific destination. I used to do that a lot, but haven’t so much lately for some reason. I particularly like to head north, towards Virginia, and see where the little back roads will make me end up.

4. A really good long book and a leisurely afternoon to spend on it.

5. Nice long peaceful walks. Especially on some of the trails in the national park land nearby. Especially when I don’t run into any annoying people.

Five things that make me happy:

1. Summer. Particularly when it’s hot and not pouring rain.

2. Time to myself. Days off make me REALLY happy. Long weekends. I think I’m turning this into more than one answer. And going around taking pictures during my time to myself.

3. Coffee. And dark strong beer. I know, I know, that’s two things. But I hate to use two numbers up on drinks.

4. Going to the beach. Going on any trip, really. And taking pictures.

5. Finding that an author I love, like TR Pearson, has a brand new book out. Or that a director I love has a movie coming out – as a happy example, just found out yesterday that Jim Jarmusch has a new one! Yay!!! I’ve totally forgotten what it’s called, but Bill Murray and Frances Conroy from Six Feet Under are in it.

Let’s just say really good movies and really books make me happy.

Six people I’d like to see tagged :

WELL, since I’ve waited so long to do it, I have no idea who has and who hasn’t done it – so – I tag everybody!!! Everybody who hasn’t done it, you’re it!!!! I mean, if you want to.