Hot and Cold

Day four of heat and humidity here on the Cape. It feels like 100 degrees and I sweat just sitting at the computer.

Every evening the 12 year old girls that pose as meteorologists these days on TV predict thunderstorms and cooling relief. And it fails to come.

Many real New Englanders are as peculiar about hot and cold extreme weather as many true Southerners. But in different ways.

My friend Cynthia won’t have anything to do with air conditioning. She has a window fan, an invention that she still marvels at. In her mind, by the time the ac unit is installed, it will be time for a heavy frost and then you have to take the damned thing out again. Her one concession to the heat: no flannel nightgown.

My neighbor George wouldn’t put one in his bedroom. Opening a window at night should be sufficient here on Cape Cod. Yesterday, the neighbors across the street found him in a 90 degree bedroom with his 11 year old golden retriever panting so hard the dog couldn’t move! George relented, “for the good of the dog”, and one of his sainted daughters arrived with an ac unit that Allan and I put in the bedroom window.

I tried doing a little yard work this morning and sweat so much I took an outdoor shower instead.

I remember my mother, red in the face, sweat poring off her nose, as she prepared a roast and potatoes for supper in Florida in 1957 without air conditioning. Hardy or foolhardy?