Friday

I returned from North Carolina for the worst summer weather yet. I don't mean to complain; so far this summer's been pretty nice. Hot, sure, but the worst humidity has been trapped in the eighty degree days, and storms have cleared that unpleasantness away on those days when the thermometer has risen into the mid-nineties. But this week we’ve edged up to triple-digit degrees, heat indexed at nearly one ten--far more hellish than equal temperatures in the comparatively dry desert summers I've gotten used to in México. In Vietnam? Ho Chi Minh City's daily average temperature has been close to ten degrees cooler every single day. It hasn't been any more humid there, either. These days I've been seeking out as much public transportation as possible, relying on the inopportune Oakwood shuttle when I go to the metro, cutting out side trips for lunch and such that add several outdoor blocks to my daily walks. Since it's been in the upper eighties well past midnight, I've drastically cut down on nightly excursions into the backyard cemetery. On Monday and Tuesday, I went to movies in Maryland, stopping as frequently as I could in cool shops to recuperate from the swelter along the way. Wednesday evening, we attended a happy hour with some of Sunshine's coworkers. It was held in an inadequately air conditioned honky-tonk dump cum microbrewery located a thousand steaming feet from the Court House metro stop. Afterwards, we ferreted out the coolest nearby salad joint for dinner (I had jerk tilapia with lime rice and a walnut pear salad. Fabulous). Finally, last night the heat broke a little, rain showers bringing the wind and lowering the mercury to a newly appreciated eighty-something during the day. Hopefully, this will last through the rest of the summer. [Cavin]