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Monday, July 27, 2009

h e a t

It is so hot. About 95 now, I should say, and it's 6 pm.

This morning we worked at grandmother's again, moving 2x4s and plywood. Grandma exhorted us not to work too hard. I swilled water.
Went to town, ran some errands, bought a ticket for County Fair, bought a watermelon. Came home and drank more water.
Cucumbers and their larger cousins watermelons are a true boon to the person attempting to subsist in a hot climate. Not that Oregon can be described as "hot"; it is rarely above 90, and almost always a dry heat. I've experienced Virginia and, to a lesser extent, Midwest heat and we are balmy in comparison.
The lower 1/8th of the sky has turned an indecisive shade of pale tan.

I have true sympathy for those comrades of mine who I know are even now engaged in preparing their animals for County Fair. Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be over 100, and fair week is the hottest we are likely to have this summer! Just the thought of sweating at the Fairgrounds, feeling the tarmac radiate heat, wearing showmanship clothes, trying to stay in the shade, and, if you are lucky, perhaps locating a puny whiff of hot air terming itself a "breeze"...
I'm going to Fair on Thursday evening....there is a country music group performing that night, Lady Antebellum, which has received various accolades.

One can stay bearably cool if one does not move.

We harvested our first tomato yesterday: very passable.

Do pardon the extreme lucidity of this post; I have just been reading the authoritative Eats, Shoot and Leaves and that, combined with a reaction from writing my extremely casually-voiced story, has made me feel very wordy.

And now 'tis off to read Rochelle Blue's post here about unschooling: an education philosophy to which I must admit considerable leanings at times. Aren't I lucid?

I like that word, lucid. I used it at a shoot for The Rose of Gondor, the movie I filmed last summer. It was at the beginning of the shoot, and I was telling someone to "Allow me to elucidate what you will do in this take". The other: "What was that--hallucinate?" with a look which implied as much.

ANYWAY....

6 comments:

Rochelle Blue said...

ugh I do not envy your weather. I absolutely dread the heat. The weather were I live isn't much better... I went out the other night at around 11 pm and it 95 degrees D=
I hope you have a fun time at the fair! =)

xoxo
rochelle

Bethany said...

Yes...at least it does cool down somewhat at night, here.

I will! :)

Josiah English said...

Hahaha. Hallucinate?! :P

(I love the word too, though I hardly get a chance to use it!)

Josiah English said...

Oh, and sorry about the heat but it's worse here! The fair sounds fun. Ours always happens in September or October, when it's cooler!

Danaphanous said...

100? you'd think Tennessee would be hotter because it's farther south, but apparently that's not the case. Phew! I definately feel sorry for those poor souls getting ready for the fair! ;)

Bethany said...

Howdy, all!
Welcome, Dan! Yes, well, the thing about the South [and Midwest and East and actually anywhere except the far West] is the humidity. If you've only ever experienced "damp heat" you don't know how terrible it is for the hapless unknowing victim coming from a nice dry climate!
[i. e. Virginia trip in '05!]
We're subsisting pretty well.
hehe, I may as well make a real post out of this!