This summer seemed eternal in Arizona, and I've got a gigantic list of things I've been putting off until cooler weather came around. Like going for a walk or anything else that involves being outside for longer than five minutes. We passed the mark of 100 days over 100 degrees two months ago, but had to soldier on. You know what they say, "everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."
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| This picture is from Deviant Art. |
But the hot weather has finally broken here, and I am beginning to remember the better aspects of Southwest living. It especially helps to see snow at the higher elevations in the Rockies already, knowing all the while that we are heading out of our extreme weather as other regions are heading in. We're still hitting highs of mid nineties in the late afternoons, but the difference between that and highs in the low hundreds is kind of amazing. It means you can breathe outside in the afternoon without feeling like you are somehow inside a preheated oven. It is cool enough overnight now that we can sleep with the windows open and feel the natural breeze and listen to people and traffic, rather than the forced air and the incessant hum of the air conditioner. We're almost in Goldilocks territory: not too hot, not too cold, just right.
It's not the same the same as autumn in New England, certainly. And nothing makes me wish for the cool winds and turning leaves more that the profusion of seriously cute sweaters and boots on sale at the mall and online. But there's really no point. I probably own all the sweaters I'll ever need while even if we live here until I am reaching for a cardigan in the old folks home. And the idea of putting on boots, no matter how incredibly adorable they are, just makes me hot and tired. It is no small consolation then, that I just scored five pairs of flip-flops and a bottle of pedicure-perfect red nail polish for under 10.00 at my local Walgreen's, because even though we wear them year-round here in the desert, the "sandals" go into the clearance sale anyway. Soon it will be time to put the blankets back on the beds and stop sleeping on top of the sheets. We may actually pull out the comforter by Thanksgiving, and then I can enjoy the four or five months of the year that it looks like I really made my bed after I got out of it. This must be what people mean when they talk about enjoying the natural rhythm of the seasons.
When I think about the relief I felt when it finally cooled down, I realize that it is very much like the recognition that spring is finally coming back East, when you step out in March or April and feel that the air is soft and sweet, instead of cold and bitter. Mike said something similar-- leaving the windows open the evenings when he grew up in Buffalo used to mean that summer was finally coming, but here, it means that summer is finally going. And we don't mind.
Completely unrelated...
I am happy to say I have a post on another website, The Equals Record. This is a piece about moving to Maine that didn't appear here originally, so it might be new to some of you. I have had a couple of other pieces accepted around the web as well, so I will let you know when you can look for those. For those of you who already followed the cranky link on Facebook, thank you for your support! Thanks for reading. I'll be writing more in the meantime.
