Have I Mentioned that It's Hot??

Another day with a heat index of over 100 degrees.  I go from air conditioned house to air conditioned car to somewhat-air conditioned school, back to car, back to house.  I'm keeping cool, so far.

The word from Muncie is that Meg's tooth extraction went well.  When I talked to her, the numbness hadn't worn off yet, so she doesn't know how the evening will go.  Grandma Judy is there giving a helping hand with the children.

I am preparing for possible company this weekend.  Robin's fourth birthday occurs on Sunday, so we will at least have immediate family here.  There is a possibility that my brother's daughter (whom I have only met once--at his funeral!) will be here, too.  She and Robin share the same birth date, which is the same as my mother's.  Interesting coincidence! 

These warm summer nights make me notalgic for the farm and my childhood.  My grandparents lived on a farm outside Streator, IL.  The house was a remodeled garage, remodeled into a house because the gorgeous old 12-room homestead on the property burned to the ground on my grandfather's 50th birthday, before I was born.  When I was a kid, there was no such thing as air conditioning in residences or cars.  (An occasional business might have air conditioning, with a sign on the doors, "It's COOL inside!")  But for the most part, we did what we could to keep air moving through the house--even if it was hot air.  At the farm, the drapes were all kept closed during the day to keep the sun warmth out, and opened at night when it was cooler.  After supper, everyone retired to the yard to sit in the shade of a huge old oak tree and receive whatever breeze there was.  We children caught lightning bugs and chased each other around while the adults sipped iced tea and talked.  My grandmother swore she could hear the corn grow.  Once in awhile, the children, in their pajamas, would be piled in the car to go to the Four Corners (a small diner/gas station just a couple of miles from the home place) or to the Tastee Freeze in Streator for an ice cream cone as a cool summer treat.  These were happy times when my parents and grandparents were alive, and I hadn't a care in the world!  To this day, warm summer nights bring back these memories.  Also to this day, I prefer night summer drives with the car windows down and fans in the house moving warm air rather than air conditioning--but as I age, I don't do as well in the heat, so I acquiesce to the wonderful inventions that have brought us to 2006.  Still, I miss SOME of what used to be.  (Makes me wonder what kind of memories my grandchildren will have...)

Three more days of summer school!