the long, hot summer...

So the AC died on my car a couple of weeks ago. I’d take it in to have it fixed, but...it'll be 10 years this fall since I got that car. As much as I love it (and I do), with my heavy commute I need a new car, and I'd rather put the money it would cost to have the AC fixed into a down payment on a new(er) car...so I’ve been driving with the windows down, reminding myself that cars didn’t used to have AC. Uh-huh. And a few hundred years ago there was no indoor plumbing either, or modern dentistry, etc., etc. There’s no future in going down that particular road...

Most of the time, I mind the noise more than I mind the heat. Tonight I got a call from a friend as I was driving home, and we talked only briefly, in part because he commented that between the trucks and the motorcycles zooming loudly past, it sounded as if I were at NASCAR. Of course I said I was; that that’s my real job. I make it easier on myself by driving very early and/or rather late. The combination of 5PM Texas sun and traffic is the worst, and the one I try to avoid. I’m rambling, I know, but there is a point to this, and it is...there is a sort of timelessness to the heat. Tuesday we had severe thunderstorms that took out the electricity in big parts of Dallas, my neighborhood included. When I came home Tuesday night, the traffic lights near my house were out, and once I actually got home, every electrical appliance in my house with a clock was blinking. The AC was off, a casualty of the circuits being tripped, I guess. But I noticed it was relatively cool and fresh outside, so rather than turn the AC back on, I opened windows and started a couple of fans as I set about resetting all the clocks and...it was kind of nice. It’s been hot during the day, but I’m not here during the day; I’m at work, which is, of course, pleasantly cool. And in the evenings, with the temperature in the low ‘70's, I’ve been opening windows and enjoying the fresh air. It won’t stay like this, I know, but I intend to enjoy it while it lasts.

And while it lasts...I’m drinking ice tea and enjoying the feeling of cool air being blown across my shoulders by a fan as I listen to music and write. Just a couple of the many timeless pleasures of summer...