Dog Days

It is 92 degrees this afternoon & these dogs are sacked out:

Louis, the special weekend guest canine is trying to fit in Larry's bed. God only knows where Louis's Daddy- T is or what he is up to..

I just hope that he is as worn out as his poddle.

Junior is fagged out on a tasteful & lovely Afghan rug from the early 20th century. Always a classic look. Junior is as calculating & shallow as I am. We both share a great concern that at anytime, we need to look cute.

Larry the Canine (his professional wrestling name) enjoys the cool cork floor, is it just because it is in the kitchen?

Larry is a food whore.

Reflections On A Summer Sunday Afternoon

 My favorite song about summer, from the musical- The Golden Apple by Jerome Moross & John Treville Latouche.

What a difference a week makes, 168 little hours. I am taking a rare mini-staycation. I have 5 days in a row, in which I must work about 12 hours.The owner of the business that I work for (who I like) is on vacation in another state, a situation that always makes me feel a tiny bit more relaxed.

Some details of scenes around the garden.

My idea of perfect happiness is a summer day off from work, with no list of things to do & no agenda, with a couple of $20s in my jeans (just in case a little shopping calls to me). I am enjoying just such a day as I post this, mostly because I warned the forces that might make a mess of it- I am going to have my day, my way. A hot summer afternoon in late July is condusive to doing little & enjoying small things in a big way: never leaving the house or garden, listening to my choice of music, read favorite blogs, do a blog post, not getting in trouble for being on the computer too much, watering the garden, sweeping The Boys’ Fort, going for a dog walk, smoke a bowl, make the August Playlist, being-in- the-now, taking note the temperature, the plants, the sky, the Husband, the dogs, being ecstatic, being calm.


The August 2010 Playlist::


Between My Legs- Rufus Wainwright


Crossfire- Brandon Flowers


I Burn For You- Sting with London Philharmonic


Machines Can Do The Work- Fatboy Slim & Herve


DJ’s Got Us Fallin’ In Love- Usher featuring Pitbull


Misery- Maroon 5


Tweak Your Nipple- Faithless


Next To Me- Alan Cumming


Senegal Fast Food- Amadoum& Mariam


You Are Not Alone- Mavis Staples


Your Love- Nicki Minaj


Show & Tell- Al Wilson


Straight No Chaser- Chet Baker


When I Get Low I Get High- Jane Krakowski


If You A Viper- Erin McKeowan

Thank you to the readers who commented & sent best wished & sympathy to the Husband. He reads Post Apocalyptic Bohemian, even when recovering from surgery for Dupuytren’s Contracture. The Husband uses the fact that he in agonizing, difficult pain all the time, to be a bit of a shithead… but I am not allowing that to matter during my little summer respite. Below are photos of the Husband's hand 3 weeks after surgery. He wouldn’t let me see it before now. Yikes! Call James Whale, it is time to make Hand Of Frankenstein. I know life has been kicking him in the gut in 2010. I brought him a beautiful Blueberry/Peach pie, hoping it would keep him busy & happy for a while.

The Husband did, at long last, receive some scraps of good news: he won a judgment for back wages from a past employer, & he has a freelance job doing French style bistro signs for a café. They are quite stylish & smart, & not all that easy to produce with one hand. Even with his extreme pain & current state of mine, the Husband manages to relax also, it is after all, a very Lazy Afternoon. Even in repose, the Husband puts his best side forward.

3 dudes who are old enough to know not to be out in the sun without sunscreen. Bad Dogs!

It's Cloud Illusions I Recall...

Ten days with temperatures over 90, 5 days in a row over 100... unprecidented & record breaking heat in Portland. I have been looking at perfectly blue skys for 2 weeks & I miss seeing clouds.


“I love the clouds… the clouds that pass…
up there… up there… the wonderful clouds!”
Charles Baudelaire

90 Is The New 80

I never thought the time would come when I would say-"wow, it is only 98 degrees today!"

If Marilyn Thinks It Is Hot... Well, It Must Be Hot!

108 degrees in Portland... & some people don't believe in climate change!

Gratuitous

It reached 105 degrees in Portland today. I melted, the dogs were miserable, the hydrangeas seem to collapse, the Husband & I snapped at each other, apologized & then snapped at each other again. In my heat induced delirium... I have decided to post one of my favorite pics.

Heatwave

103 degrees in Portland today! Record heat for this date & by the end of the week- a record for consecutive days over 90 degrees. The dogs don't like it, the garden doesn't like it, & it is making me really grouchy (but then, I am very much in touch with my inner grouch). How do you beat the heat? For me, a little mid-70s Funk. Funk makes me feel not quite so grouchy.. because Funk makes it more than OK to be too hot. Here is the English, American & Czech members of HEATWAVE doing Too Hot To Handle from 1976, my first summer in NYC.