Has it really been a week since I last blogged? This heat has seriously addled my brain. I realize that after two cold and rainy summers, I ought to be more grateful, or at least less whiny, but I am just not constitutionally suited to high 30's (95-100+) with stifling humidity and no AC. (Rob, on the other hand, is in his element, and has no end of "this is nothing - when I was in East Timor/Darwin/the Persian Gulf" stories with which to mock me.)
Between the heat and the lack of school routines, each day melts into the next in a sort of befuddled haze, but I am slowly pulling together a little order and productivity from the fog. Up early, put a batch of yarn in the pot, grab a quick bite, walk puppy with the daughter (sort of a girls' date), return to collapse in a sweaty heap with a cold drink and contemplate whether I have the energy to make a bit of jewellery. Pacify a dozen or more heat-induced spats. Work on reading with the boy. Mid-afternoon: apply a half gallon of sunscreen to already-sticky bodies and head to the pool. Delay supper until the sun falls behind the mountain and the patio is marginally liveable. Twilight puppy walk, send kids to bed late, rinse and hang the yarn, stay up a little longer to savour the (slightly) cooler air.
There was a little excitement yesterday, as lightning strikes set the tinder-dry mountain above us on fire. It was up to 75 hectares of intense nastiness for a while, but an all-out effort by air knocked it back considerably, and the smoldering remains are being fought primarily on the ground today.
And that's that. I'm working on both custom and web-destined yarns - just a little every morning, but there will be a new batch to show very soon. The FLS continues, and the body is almost complete - I've got other projects and ideas, but I just don't have the mental energy to work on anything else. Still, I'll try to be less of a stranger this week....