Notes from the Basement

This is my new office - yes, it's the basement.

Today it's the ONLY place cool enough to work, play or even breath.

Why am I writing this in the basement you ask... because it is over 90 degrees with about the same percentage of humidity and no discernible breeze. It's a heatwave that's got the entire eastern seaboard it it's grasp (reported into the 100's in DC!). Let me see if I can give you a taste of what it's like:

- The back of your knees constantly sweat and drip down the back of your legs no matter what chair you sit in or what way you sit.
- So you stand up most of the day but the heat makes your head swim.
- I left my thick beach flipflops out on the back porch in the sun. When I put them on this afternoon for a trip to the beach they were soft - as if the sun had sucked the toughness out of their genetic make up.
- There was NO ONE at the beach! Of course there was a red flag caution on the air quality. I pose that people just couldn't summon the energy to stop melting through their hammock ropes long enough to pull themselves together and get to the beach.
- At the beach the sand is too hot to stand on, the water is warm and calm, and if you are at all refreshed by your swim your knees are sweating again before your bathing suit is dry.
- Speaking of the air - remember those old movie 'cheesecloth' shots where the focus is all soft. Filmmakers used to use it to soften the ingenue's face to indicate she was in loooooove. Not today! Everything is in soft focus - I argue it's because the whole world is melting like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Which all leads to why I am writing this in the basement:

The sofa to the right is where I study and read. I just finished a week long dash through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (or as I like to call it 'Deu it all over again'). The white towel doubles as a back support while reading and a pillow when napping. On the far left is my desk/sewing table. The goal is to get all the wool fabric I've had stored for years made up into clothing appropriate for Scotland - kind of hard to motivate myself in this weather! Since there is electricity, internet, a de-humidifier (a/c-like in that it takes moisture out of the air) and a spare fridge stocked with soda down here I might stay for days except for the lack of television. Got to have that drug so I'll trudge back upstairs around 9pm to catch my show although I am seriously considering returning to my sofa for bed tonight.