Arrival

The clouds have thickened and the heat has persisted. Something similar to a sunrise is happening, but it consists mostly of satin banners of light hung on gray ramparts. The crows and jays greet it noisily nevertheless. Crickets continue to sing as the growing light reveals night-built webs containing dark spiders and, sometimes, their still-struggling prey. Things happen while the moon is gone. I hear a lawn sprinkler sputter into action down the block, and a slight breeze flutters the mulberry tree's deep green leaves. All night has passed to bring only this brief breath of cooling air, soon to be steamed away. The vapor from the lawn sprinkler will appear later among those white clouds now catching the sun's first rays.


( Sunday Verse )

Ow

Killer headache.

My sleep was interrupted by the noise of the air conditioner. I kept thinking it would go off in a few minutes, but it ran and ran. My room got cold. My head began to hurt. I got up to close the vent, and all my joints were stiff. I went back to bed, spent some time in a semi-doze, and finally realized that something was terribly wrong. The machine had been running for an hour. I went out to the hall and found that the thermostat had been lowered to 70 degrees and that most of the windows in the house were wide open. We were cooling California.

Old people. You've got to watch them all the time.

The headache is into its sixth hour. I'm going to try just relaxing this evening. Reading would aggravate the pain in my head. Maybe I'll fire up the lawn sprinkler. The sound of fake rain is soothing on a hot evening.