Three weeks of August have raced by. I'm in my summer routine - get up early, do whatever chores, cooking or shopping need to be done, have breakfast, take a shower, then switch the air conditioning on in my study and turn on the computer for a few hours.
Um. Except that, today, I switched the computer on before doing any chores. As I have done a few times recently. So I'm sitting here with my study door open and the ceiling fan on only. We're trying to use the a/c significantly less this year in a bid to save electricity. We're running the air conditioners at 29C rather than 28, and mostly relying on a fan at night. But, alas, the bills are as high as ever. If not more so. And I simply can't deal with unrelenting heat. Yesterday it was a little cooler.. 'only' about 33C at most, and the humidity was lower than it has been. But still too hot to have a computer on without cooling, most of the day, and too hot for me to do anything other than potter gently.
If anyone read my post about the end of July, they might have wondered how successful the jigsaw roll was. I'm happy to report that it worked extremely well. The following Sunday I unrolled it:
It occurred to me that it's probably the last time we'll visit the beach this summer. Possibly the last time this year.
If asked what I've done in the past couple of months, it would be hard to say. Mainly writing, reading, and browsing online. Some website updates, some email, some reviewing, and some online Scrabble with friends. But I don't really see how that's taken up all my time. I don't ever plan to do much during the hottest months; low-key aestivating is all I can manage, but there seems to be very little to show for it this year.
On Monday I defrosted our large upright freezer, delighted to find that I had run down our supplies sufficiently that everything fitted (albeit rather tightly) into the top part of our fridge-freezer. I did throw out a couple of mysterious and un-labelled bags, which I suspect may have been leftover stuffing from Christmas. And a couple of small tubs of leftover pasta which I had evidently frozen a LONG time ago as they were iced up and smelled of freezer... we eat pasta so rarely that I'm not sure what I planned to do with frozen leftovers.
Keeping the large freezer off for the next few weeks should at least reduce our electricity costs slightly. I wasn't sure that everything would fit until the last moment - I have several tubs of frozen chicken stock, awaiting soup-making season. I still have three litres of frozen lemon juice to make more lemonade with - left from the very inexpensive lemon-glut season. I still have three tubs of frozen tomatoes, too, which I use instead of buying canned ones. They're much cheaper here, if I buy tomatoes on special offer in season, and more nutritious too. I also have at least a week's supply of frozen portions of meals from the crockpot, some frozen peas in the only brand we like that were on offer a couple of months ago. And various other bits and pieces... but it all fit in the fridge-freezer, so I was pleased.
Um. Except that, today, I switched the computer on before doing any chores. As I have done a few times recently. So I'm sitting here with my study door open and the ceiling fan on only. We're trying to use the a/c significantly less this year in a bid to save electricity. We're running the air conditioners at 29C rather than 28, and mostly relying on a fan at night. But, alas, the bills are as high as ever. If not more so. And I simply can't deal with unrelenting heat. Yesterday it was a little cooler.. 'only' about 33C at most, and the humidity was lower than it has been. But still too hot to have a computer on without cooling, most of the day, and too hot for me to do anything other than potter gently.
If anyone read my post about the end of July, they might have wondered how successful the jigsaw roll was. I'm happy to report that it worked extremely well. The following Sunday I unrolled it:
And even completed it. Then I rolled it up again, unwilling to take it apart again at once, and it's sitting in a cupboard. We no longer have a huge table that can take several completed puzzles over the summer, but it was nice to do one again, for the first time in many years.
At the start of July, we said we'd aim to go to the beach for an hour each evening, around 5.00pm, and swim. Just to get some fresh air and exercise, and because it seems silly to live a mile from the beach and not take more advantage of it.
How many times did we do this? Perhaps four or five times in all. Some days Richard was busy with other things, some days it was still too hot for me, some days we just forgot.
We did have a very enjoyable beach barbecue with our friends nearly two weeks ago, on Pervolia Beach where cooking is still allowed:
At the weekend after that, Richard and a couple of friends took the boat for an overnight trip to Cape Greko, which they very much enjoyed.
And then, suddenly, it was last Friday. The small cell group we belong to has been meeting at a local beach during July and August, to hang out and relax. We take our own picnics and usually stay until after it's dark (which was after 8.00 at the start of July, but nearer 7.30 now). I keep forgetting to take photos, but I did take this one of Katie, putting a lot of time and effort into creating a 'cake' for Richard (whose birthday is in a couple of months), covering it with vast amounts of fudge sauce, well disguised as sandy gloop.
It occurred to me that it's probably the last time we'll visit the beach this summer. Possibly the last time this year.
If asked what I've done in the past couple of months, it would be hard to say. Mainly writing, reading, and browsing online. Some website updates, some email, some reviewing, and some online Scrabble with friends. But I don't really see how that's taken up all my time. I don't ever plan to do much during the hottest months; low-key aestivating is all I can manage, but there seems to be very little to show for it this year.
On Monday I defrosted our large upright freezer, delighted to find that I had run down our supplies sufficiently that everything fitted (albeit rather tightly) into the top part of our fridge-freezer. I did throw out a couple of mysterious and un-labelled bags, which I suspect may have been leftover stuffing from Christmas. And a couple of small tubs of leftover pasta which I had evidently frozen a LONG time ago as they were iced up and smelled of freezer... we eat pasta so rarely that I'm not sure what I planned to do with frozen leftovers.
Keeping the large freezer off for the next few weeks should at least reduce our electricity costs slightly. I wasn't sure that everything would fit until the last moment - I have several tubs of frozen chicken stock, awaiting soup-making season. I still have three litres of frozen lemon juice to make more lemonade with - left from the very inexpensive lemon-glut season. I still have three tubs of frozen tomatoes, too, which I use instead of buying canned ones. They're much cheaper here, if I buy tomatoes on special offer in season, and more nutritious too. I also have at least a week's supply of frozen portions of meals from the crockpot, some frozen peas in the only brand we like that were on offer a couple of months ago. And various other bits and pieces... but it all fit in the fridge-freezer, so I was pleased.
1 comment:
Up July's nether regions?
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