May 11

We went to Open Circle at LCS. There were not as many there as there were in February--a lot fewer snowbirds I expect. Today, there were 4 poets reading their poems on the theme “love in a hot climate”. Two of the poets were Mexican, but read their poems in English.

Actually, I should comment on the weather. It is hot in the afternoons. We found our indoor/outdoor thermometer. Outdoors at 4 - 5 p.m., the temperature is just over 38 C or just about 100 F. Indoors, the temp is about 31 C (88 F). We have been working; the house has quite a few dishes, glasses, pots, etc., but we noticed that there was a fair bit of dust. Thus, we took out the stuff, washed the shelves and all the dishes etc. With a fan on and not moving really fast, it was not bad. In a dry climate like this, the body’s air conditioning system works quite well although by the end of the day, a shower feels very nice and refreshing. [When I lived in the San Fernando Valley in LA, in August we had a spell where temperatures were over 110 F (about 43 C) every day for over 2 weeks.] On Friday about 5:30, I was going to the store and decided to walk. I ended up walking much farther than I anticipated; it was not fun in the heat. I called Barb to say that I was going to be later than she expected; she came in the car to get me. Thus, we shall have to do our walking in the morning. I don’t yet know what the temperature is in the morning. I did go for a jog yesterday morning at about 7 and it was very pleasant--less than 15 I would guess. I’ll find out tomorrow. This morning at about 9 both inside and out it was about 22 or so.

Another interesting point for me is the fact that here daylight and night are about even. The sun is getting almost directly overhead. Thus, sunset is earlier and sunrise later (about 8, give or take in both cases) than you are getting now in the more northern latitudes. Well, I won’t begrudge you some extra daylight; we’ll make it up in the winter when you are in the dark before 5 p.m.