The Farmers Almanac notes the dog days of summer extend from July 3 through August 11. I beg to differ as they last longer in my area. Today's high is forecast for 95 degrees and the temperatures won't moderate until at least Sunday. Yesterday our air conditioner quit working. Thankfully the company that services our furnace and air is able to send someone out today. We are both anxious about the time it might take to get a new unit or parts. The air conditioner is ten years old so it has had a good run with lots of summer use. I am writing from the basement which for now is cooler than the main living areas. We are in for a hot week of making do with fans and ice water. I did put three bars of dark chocolate into the fridge. Ginger Ice Tea is steeping on the counter.
Today is the day I link with Kat and the Unravelers to write about knitting and reading. I am working on small projects. Norah's little sweater will wait until the air conditioner is fixed or replaced. I cast on a second slipper and a pair of fingerless mitts that combine some leftover Rios and handspun Cormo. I began spinning this fiber last September. The pile of small skeins records my progress. The last three skeins are the most consistently spun so I set them aside for a to-be-determined project. The last finished skein is a beauty.
My next spinning adventure will be two braids of Polworth, mostly shades of blue but with some gold at the end of the braid. I separated the gold off of one braid and spun a little yesterday. With a chapter on color in Yarn-i-tec-ture by Jillian Moreno as a reference, I'm going to play with the shades of blue.
I continue to read Horizon and Villette. I'm enjoying them both for the excellent but different writing style and content. Lopez is so thoughtful and eloquent about the environment and indigenous people. From Hoopla, a library streaming service, I downloaded the audio of The Last Bookshop in London. This World War Two story is an average or below average novel for me. The passages about the bookshop and reading keep me listening. The rest of the story seems a little cliche'd.
I'm off to reload my aluminum water bottle with iced ginger tea and decide what to do with the tomatoes on the counter. I planned to roast and freeze them but turning on the oven doesn't seems like a good idea. This batch may be blanched and frozen. I'm going to think of a steamy kitchen as an opportunity for a facial. Wish me luck.
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Sending cooling thoughts your way! Our weather is the same. I just finished mowing and have congratulated myself on the achievement after reading the weather proclamation that it feels like 103 (at least, I say.) Your spinning is beautiful and I hope you are back with a working ac post haste.
ReplyDeleteP.S. It might sound a bit strange but last summer when I couldn't face turning on the oven in August to roast tomatoes, I cut them up skin and all, threw them in the blender, and froze the puree. I cooked it down in the winter and it turned out beautifully. https://www.mamalovesfood.com/blender-spaghetti-sauce/
Good luck!
So sorry about your air conditioner! What terrible timing. I'm glad to hear you have a cool basement.
ReplyDeleteThe heat index here yesterday was 105 degrees. This is just insane!
Your spun yarn is beautiful!
I read Villette years ago and remember that I really enjoyed it.
oy. August is NOT the time for the A/C to go out ... sure hope it was an easy (and inexpensive!) fix!! on a happier note, your spinning is going gangbusters - WOW!
ReplyDeleteI have been using Hoopla a lot lately for audiobooks. Our AC went out the weekend of the 4th of July and we ended up buying an entirely new HVAC system. Ours was more than ten years old, so it made sense. I hope yours can be fixed soon. I do remember how hot and humid Nebraska can get in the summer.
ReplyDeleteOh my! Sherman and I are melting thinking about no air in this weather. I hope the fix is quick (and inexpensive!) I love all those skeins of your yarn and I am excited to see where you go with your new fiber!
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about your AC issues. Now . . . is a rough time to lose your cooling source. I'm sending good juju for a quick and easy fix.
ReplyDeleteI'm a day late reading and I hope your AC is already fixed! Your spinning is so lovely - hopefully your can do a little knitting either in the basement or somewhere cool. It is HOT here too. I often make a ginger simple syrup and then add plain seltzer for a home-made gingerale - very refreshing!
ReplyDeleteThe Dog Days of Summer have fully arrived here; with the heat index, we're likely to have "feels like" temps close to 100 today. I hope your AC is fixed quickly! In the meantime, cool showers and lots of refreshing drinks! I hope you have a fan you can use, too.
ReplyDeleteOh no! Hope you can get the a/c fixed quickly. We were spoiled last week with highs only in the low to mid 80's but we are paying for it this week. Back up into the upper 90's with "feels like" temperatures over 110. The humidity is just awful. I have THE WORST case of fall fever!
ReplyDeletewhy do things break when you need them the most. When we lived in Texas during the peak of summer our AC broke, oh my goodness. It took a week for them to get to it. I guess I'm an extremely impatient person... I love all of your fibery goodness, such a treat to visit and see what you are up to!!
ReplyDeleteWe are having another run of 95+ weather and the sky is so filled with smoke from the fires that we hesitate to open the windows too much. No air conditioning here - lots of fans and trying not to exert too much energy. I love your next fiber for spinning
ReplyDeleteawww. I say crockpot those tomatoes!
ReplyDeleteI rarely do gauge and because of it, my knitting sometimes backfires. I try to knit with the same wool and the same needles and the same patterns just to avoid gauge!
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