Last entry I said I would start blogging more and this is what I think I'll do. I spend 2.5 hours most week days sitting at my son Sgzhanke S. Carlo (a.k.a. Shanky)'s football practice. I try to use the time wisely and write but today I took a break from working on Rachel Richard's Hates Rats (my new middle grade novel) to write the following in my notebook.
For the last 12 years I've lived in an area where the summers are hot. I grew up in the SF Bay Area, which has a very mild climate: it never gets too hot or too cold in Fremont. As a kid, I hated the heat. It sapped all of my energy and left me feeling sick and sluggish.
So I never would have thought I'd want to live in a place with hot summers. I'd have thought it would be horrible, and that I'd spend my sunny, sweltering days longing for fall and cooler temps. That's the thing about life, though. There's a lot of truth to the cliché "never say never", because now I absolutely love the heat of the summer.
Today the high was just under 100 degrees Farenheight. Our house was cool in the morning, though: 68 degrees. Evenings here it usually cools down enough that we can leave our windows open and draw in fresh, crisp air with the huge whole house fan in our attic. I like waking up summer mornings as the sun rises, to a cool, quiet house.
And I love wearing summer clothes: shorts, flip-flops—no socks or sweaters. I love not being cold. I love taking the kids to the pool and sitting in the shade, reading and writing and jumping in myself when I get too warm. At night, it's the perfect temperature to sleep with no covers. Did I mention how great it is to never be cold?
So now I'm sitting in the shade at Shanky's football practice. I've got my notebook, my iced tea, my ipod, and my Kindle. It's 6:30 PM and the temperature in out in the sun where the boys are playing is in the 90s.* And I'm trying to appreciate this lovely warmth because there are only two more months of it to go before the cold and rain of winter arrive.
*Poor Shanky. He probably has very different view about this hot weather. I've got my shade and my tea. He's out in the sun in a helmet doing jumping jacks and pushups!
