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Summer Nostalgia During a Heat Wave

It has been years since I experienced 90 F temperatures, so I was worried about taking my dog in the van for an appointment, in mid-day. But just driving by a shaded city park and seeing kids adapting to the heat wave, put me in a good frame of mind. More than merely adapting to it -- they were playing with it.

While waiting for some routine service on the van, Coffee Girl and I went across the street and enjoyed some shade from the building and an iced coffee, my first of the summer. I turned a dish of water over on her head and rubbed it in. Dog hair can be a great evaporative-cooler-mat! Why don't I dunk her head in water all the time, in summer?

It happens so many times: having a dog brings me back to childhood and nostalgia. A heat wave in summer contributes to that mindset. 


I wish I understood the "ice" economy in the America of 1900. Something about storing it underground, surrounded by straw? Surely that didn't last all summer.

It was a great day -- at least for people in the city -- when commercial companies manufactured ice by using electrical motors to put a working gas through a compression/expansion cycle. Then they delivered the ice to people's homes on trucks?

What a step-up for people when they could afford electrical refrigerators! But during the decades of transition, children must have continued running for lawn sprinklers or a nearby lake. Imagine the excitement when somebody said, "Mom is getting the lemonade ready!" Or when Dad told everybody to get in the car for a trip to the ice cream parlor.

So the dog and I made it work on this 95 F day. There is a point when you get tired of dreading something, and you decide, 'If you can't beat it, join it.' 
You can imagine yourself being immersed in a warm blanket of air, without fighting it.

Change it to joyful surrender, just as children at the park do, or dogs do when they jump in the water!  Even more, imagine yourself as getting good at the heat. Pride works wonders!

This isn't a new idea. But it seemed like a real accomplishment to actually put it into practice, for a change.

There are advantages to the heat. Taking a shower in ambient temperature water is near the top of the list. And you eat less and eat different kinds of food. Soon the crops of fresh food start coming in.

Comments

When I was a youngster in the late 40’s in Philadelphia, the iceman would come around in his horse drawn wagon. When he went inside a house to make a delivery, we would quickly grab chips of ice to eat. I suspect he did the same when he was a kid.
He used ice tongs a big ice pick and draped a piece of leather over his shoulder to carry the ice on.
We also had a vegetable man, a rag(junk) man and a pony pulled merry go round.

Life was simple for a kid back then.
Brewed Journey said…
you might enjoy this article.

https://www.wisconsinlife.org/story/ice-harvesters-keep-a-19th-century-tradition-alive-one-block-at-a-time/
Anonymous said…
Arthritis hurts less! Yes its all what your used to. Enjoyed 85 degree days in idaho. When back to the left coast, 75 degrees with the moisture felt the same.
Allanb
Brewed Journey, thank you for that link. I read the article. Very interesting. I wish they'd make a video of the process!
Ed, Carol, and Gopher, thanks for that anecdote. It gave me some pleasure.