It's STILL summer

I'm really weary of the hot weather and lack-of-rain. They're telling us - at least until the end of the week - "Don't spend time outside doing anything strenuous" (I believe the heat index got up to 110 yesterday afternoon here). They keep promising rain but we never get any right around me. I think my lawn is dead. (Maybe if it is, I'll try being "landscaping transgressive" in the future and try to find drought-tolerant prairie stuff to replace it with, blow my perfect-perfect neighbor's mind)

I finally broke down and bought some new filters for my Brita pitcher. I hadn't been using it because the tap water had been tasting OK, and I didn't have room in the fridge for the pitcher, and leaving a bottle of water that's not totally sealed out on the counter means ants find it and go swimming in it (I mostly get ants coming in in search of water, it seems).

But lately, the tap water developed an off taste. I'd describe it as either muddy or algae-infused. (I'm hoping it doesn't mean they're scraping the bottom of Lake Durant for the last few drops of water, but that's what I envision). So I bought some new filters, filled the thing up, stuck it in my fridge.

(I know this is being very Goldilocks but: I don't really like "fridge water" - at least, not straight out of the fridge. I have sensitive teeth and it's too cold for me. So usually I pour a glass and let it sit for 10 minutes or so to come up to room temperature.)

So at least there's that. And I think I finally got a "base cooling" in my house after having been gone, back to where it's comfortable again. (I had turned the thermostat up while gone from home, so the house was warm when I got back, and it took several days of the thermostat set colder to get the temperature down to where it felt comfortable to me.)

Still, going outside isn't fun. Going out and interacting with the world in general isn't fun. I went to the Green Spray yesterday and had my first-ever bad experience there. Three girls - I believe the oldest was about 9 - were running around the store. The oldest was pushing the youngest in a grocery cart - they'd send the middle kid on ahead to check if the aisle was clear, and then they'd tear down the aisle, whooping and hollering. (They nearly ran into me once as I rounded an aisle. I gave them The Look (as best as I, a childless person, can muster it up) but they ignored me. I'm always afraid to say anything to undisciplined kids in public because I've had a few bad experiences of a huffy mother waiting to pounce ("HOW DARE YOU speak to my children!").

But I had a headache. And I was tired. And I winced every time their yells bounced off the high ceiling of the store. ("This is why," I thought, "we can't have nice things.")

I'm guessing - as I didn't actually see a parent - that their mom lived nearby, and decided that because it was too hot to send her kids to the playground, she'd send them to the grocery store instead. Thanks a lot, absent mother.

Once again, I heartily wish for a grocery delivery-service in town, where I could fill out a web-form from my office, note I'd be home at 4:30 (or whenever) and have the Friendly Grocery People meet me at my door with my groceries. That seems like it would be so civilized in comparison to what I often wind up facing now.

So, I went back home, washed my hair, did the rest of the day's piano practice, cooked dinner...and then sat down to knit. And it never feels like there are enough hours in the day these days.

I did work some more on the red scarf for the Red Scarf Project, but I'm beginning to feel like I want to start a "selfish knitting" project (something just for me - my over-the-weekend push was a little gift item for someone else.)

And people on Ravelry are beginning to talk about the fall fiber festivals, which this year makes me doubly sad: I'm always sad because they're always so far from me and they always fall at a time when I can't get away. But this year, doubly sad, because we're still 10-20 degrees hotter than we should be (still in the sweaty, nasty grip of summer) and it's not rained in almost long enough to make me believe that rain is a fairy tale, kind of like soulmates and the Tooth Fairy and comfortable shoes that are still flattering are.

I remember my first year teaching here - I looked at the calendar about this time, realized how long it still was even to Labor Day, and just put my head down on the desk and cried a little. August really is the month that never ends.