Summer has officially arrived. Of course it happened almost a month ago but it was so cold all this time that I even didn’t feel it. But now it changed. More and more often I open the door, feel the wall of warm air, and immediately close it again.
We are not going outside. Dogs also. None of us.
I must admit that my dogs figured this out faster than I did. By mid-morning the whole pack had migrated to the ground floor where it's noticeably cooler. The grape arch, which I keep only for reasons of combating the consequences of global warming (since I do not like this grape variety) provides constant shade. All my seventeen dogs arranged across every available surface, barely moving, occasionally sighing in a way that communicates their feelings about the situation very clearly.
I joined them. It seemed like the right call.
The thing is, this summer has been a bit unpredictable — which is actually a relief. It's not the relentless dry heat that just sits on you for weeks. Instead we get a few days of proper summer scorching, and then a heavy downpour appears out of nowhere, drops the temperature by ten degrees, and disappears just as fast. Then the heat creeps back. Then another storm.
Chaotic, but honestly preferable. The rain keeps things from getting completely unbearable, and for a few hours after each downpour the air actually feels like air again. But there's also a problem with all this. Summer is the time when I wash mattresses, chairs, dog litter. And I need to dry it all! But so far it's not going too well because of the unexpected rains.
There's something almost peaceful about our collective hiding in the house. Outside is the other world. The roses are doing fine (I wrote about if earlier). The weeds are thriving, naturally. The hops are absolutely delighted with the humidity.
But that's a problem for a cooler day 😄
