Sunday, August 12, 2012

It's hot and some of us are running on empty

This will not be a whine.  I have no cause to complain.  For at least two years we had summers so mild they were nearly unnoticeable.  And then it was now.

I am made of flimsy carnival material, not meant to hold its integrity under extreme conditions.  Los Angeles is hot, not Santa Ana winds hot but high pressure system over Four Corners drawing tropical moisture up from Mexico, 78 degrees at 4:45 a.m. hot, make a reasonable mind turn dull hot, forget you ever had a plan hot.  Running on witless sweat and empty hot.  Thank the weather gods that Jackson Browne makes me feel that if I drove fast enough (oh, those were the days) I could become temperate of body and sharper of mind.



It is not just age, thought this 1978 band in which neither Browne nor David Lindley has a single gray hair does conjure days of some now-absent vibrancy.  I come from people, well, some of them, who lose their personalities and memories in August.  I throw out things I need not even 3 seconds later, purchase non-perishables, heavy ones that my son has to carry upstairs, that are already on my shelves.  If the music gods and the weather gods can agree, maybe "Running on Empty" as an iconic summer road song will appease while I'm looking for any unoccupied time machine to give me back my oomph and an undimmed notion of what I was going to do next.

6 comments:

Erin in Morro Bay said...

Wish I could send you a big box full of our fog and cool air. It is totally wrong for LA not to cool down at night. That's the glory of hot weather in California, that no matter how bad it is during the day, it always cools down at night. I'd ask for a do-over! Hang in there - it has to get better.
Erin

Marylinn Kelly said...

Erin - If only...I'd pay the shipping costs. No, it is wrong - upside down wrong - for us not to cool off overnight. I figure we are either sliding into the sun or it will, eventually, get better. Thank you for cooling thoughts. xo

beth coyote said...

Yup, it's hot here too, not as hot as the rest of the country so I can't really complain. However, as a woman of a certain age, I've become quite heat-intolerant so all fans are on in the house and as soon as I step into my car, on comes the AC-blasting.

And the babies keep coming (I'm a midwife), so we're all sweating around the momma in labor.

Sheesh.

Anonymous said...

august is why my blog is called too much august. how do we live when something becomes too much? argh. well, i come here and read your posts. love what you said about losing personality in august. :)

Marylinn Kelly said...

Beth - That woman-of-a-certain-age business is strewn with land mines, heat being one of them. When The Vapors Become Real. And I imagine the delivery-inspired sweat goes on year round, just exaggerated by dreaded days of August (or in LA, September, October...) Thinking foggy night breezes for us all. xo

Marylinn Kelly said...

Sherry - Maybe by my next post I'll have something clever to take our minds off AUGUST. If so, it will probably have been written by someone else, someone with personality intact. In the 10 1/2 years we've been in this apartment, there has never been such a lengthy siege. If one was inclined, we do have an ocean quite near, so I guess I'll count my blessings and imagine your other seasons when there IS enough snow. xo