warm

Its hot.

Its so hot that I'm pretty sure that the official temperature readings are totally wrong. It's so hot that with my living room AC set to 80 degrees on 'energy save' mode since about noon, it hasn't cycled off once in almost twelve hours. Its hot enough that even with the AC I feel warm inside. Until I go outside and then I realize that inside is cool.

To top it off, Alice is sick. It's not the weather, Her Featheriness is afforded constant AC. It's her usual hormonal rut, combined with advancing old age. But today was particularly bad, and I'm suspecting the air quality wasn't helping at all.

My best friend has become mint water. I grate some fresh mint leaves (I grow them on the deck) and ice them in a pitcher, adding fresh lemon to each glass. I've practically weaned myself off of caffeinated iced tea for the duration. (This is nothing short of miraculous, if you know me.)

When I mentioned that Jon was sick last week, I never followed up. Pre-heatwave, Himself managed to work himself into a serious case of dehydration/heat exhaustion. Most likely combined with a viral infection. So now I'm totally paranoid about the heat, because I think it was only 90 degrees out when he managed his meltdown.

Enough about the heat.

Several days ago, I had taken pictures to write a post about something I was thinking about. We live in a great neighborhood with turn-of-the-century Victorian houses. Front yards, even. Not at all what most people imagine New York or Brooklyn looking like. We took this apartment 4.5 years ago, mostly for the deck. My mom has a deck off her kitchen, and its like another room in the house. I spend a ton of time on our deck, and every year, just about Mother's Day, I get to go out and buy a ton of plants and such to plant window boxes and big pots on the deck. We have a table and chairs, and a macrame-like swing out there. I love it.

When I was sitting out there the other night, enjoying the night air (before the heatwave that I said I wasn't talking about anymore hit us), I realized that I never see anyone else on our block, or in the neighborhood in general, using their outdoor space. Front yards, porches, 2nd and 3rd story decks ... nothing. Okay, the monsterchildfromhell around the corner (directly behind us) has a pool and swims in it, screaming for hours at a time during long portions of the summer. But he seems to be away right now [ironically, his name is Dante, which would make me laugh if he weren't such a damn screaming .... hellion].

So, not to try to compete with the people who have real gardens, yards, and such. But here goes:

The view from my swing. You can see the gobs of basil at the far left. And a good portion of the Japanese maple in the front yard as well.

And an oddly angled shot of the deck, taken from the lefthand side:

And another (with swing):

Please note the morning glories on the right (not flowering - yet), I'm very fond of my weeds.

Needless to say, its not quite as much fun to be out there when the midnight temperature is still 91.9F (33.3C) with a heat index of 102.4 (39.1). Okay, now I really will stop talking about the heat.

Comments

[Christine]

Your deck looks fantastic! I can see why you would want to spend so much time out there!

Hang in there with the oncoming heat. Trust me, this is the mild part of the heat wave. I hope Jon feels better and that you guys can manage to keep cool during this.

Tell Alice that Jack (my cockatiel)sends get well wishes her way.

[Annelie]

I never thought we would have lower temperatures or rain again (all summer it's been sunny and about 28 - 33 degrees Celsius - I don't really like heat) but yesterday it cooled off a little and started to rain. It rains today too, and will do so tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. My enthusiasm is just a little lower than it would have been a week ago. I think it might have to do with son today going scouting for four days. And I suspect that's why it's raining too....

[Lía]

oh! what a beautiful deck, I wish I had one...I live in a ninth floor with great windows but no deck.

[Sigga Sif]

Wow. What a fabulous place you have. It sure sucks that the temperature is too high now to enjoy the outdoors. I suggest you come to Iceland, right now it's 11°C (52F). That's gonna cool you off. Oh, bring the inkle loom ;-)

[Emma.]

A beautiful outdoor room. Lots of gorgous,oxygenating,greenery !
That really is too,too hot. I really find that an Evian,or similar,mister,sprayed on face at regular intervals,really helps. Holding your pulse points under running cold water for a good 5-10 minutes is also good. Hope it eases soon,as our heatwave has done. They're talking about even higher temps later this month. I'm hoping they're wrong.

I do intend to e-mail you. I'm so pleased you liked the stuff !

[Steph]

That is a gorgeous deck. It puts my little balcony to shame.

Plus the heat has baked my flowers. This heat wave is INSANE. Combine it with every one freaking out about the "crime emergency," DC is not a fun place to be right now.

[jessie]

The heat is a common theme throughout blogland. Let's hope this isn't the new climate taking hold.

Love your deck.

[Carmen]

Poor Alice! Hopefullly she'll get better soon. Stupid hormones!

[margene]

Hopefully Alice will feel better soon. Poor dear. Hormones are such a bit.
Your deck is a wonderful spot. You've created green space right there in your apartment and it's a slice of heaven. It poured rain here yesterday and barely got above 70. It's going 'cross country and will be on your door step in a couple of days.

[naomi]

It may not be a "real" garden, but it's a lovely deck.

[Rachel H]

Hope Alice feels better soon. And I love what you've done with your deck. Such a pretty little oasis in the city.

We turned our AC off for the first time in 48 hours this morning. Forecast calls for rain today. Here's hoping they're right.

[Juno]

We are all turning into cranky old men.

Wasn't this hot when I was a child.

Summers weren't like this back then

97 degrees at 11 PM. The world is ending. (OK that one might be true)

I had to walk 2 miles to school in the snow uphill both ways. (Ooops, wrong season)

I'd be more cheerful if I hadn't had a fucking headache since Saturday.
Love to Alice.

[Kathy]

That *is* a real garden. Weather is supposed to break tonight/tomorrow -- it's hot as hell up here too. Hope Alice is feeling better.

[S.Kate]

Beautiful deck. Looks like a great spot to spin/knit/weave, temp. permitting.

[Carole]

Today is supposed to be the worst but then it will be better. I'm sorry to hear that Alice isn't feeling well. I hope she's better soon.

[lanea]

I miss having a deck. We were in a garden apartment before we bought the house, and we made the deck a mini-jungle. Now we have a great yard, but we haven't recreated that micro-climate you can make on a covered deck. Maybe it's time to start working on the front porch . . .

[Laurie]

That is lush greenery. I'm going to try the mint water. It is a deadly thing, this diet coke addiction. I've been trying to kick it without success. The Whole Foods green tea stuff was just weird.

Hope Alice gets better after today's peak of the wave. It sucks. SUCKS.

[Lee Ann]

Our humidex is telling us we're at 118 fahrenheit.

My basil and I look remarkably similar. Droopy and slightly-off-green. Though I bet my headache is worse.

[regina]

My heart goes out to poor Alice. This heat is just absurd.

[Nancy]

That's what struck me the most when I moved into my house almost none of my neighbors use their yards. I'm always out on the deck, when the weather is reasonable. Maybe it's because it is such a novelty for a lifelong apartment dweller like me. At some point I may take it for granted also.

[Chriss]

Looks like a real garden to me! We've noticed the same thing in our neighbourhood...no one seems to spend time sitting outside and we live in a semi rural area where lots are minimum half of an acre. I have a brand new verandah on the front of my house(hubby built it for me) which gets the shade all afternoon. I sit and spin or knit/crochet out there whenever I can.

[Marcia]

We have a wonderful screened in porch that used to be our summer dining room until the next door neighbor's barking dog drove us inside, and then became our outdoor living room until the backdoor neighbor's TWO screaming, screeching, bellowing female offspring made us abandon the room altogether. I use it now for summering my plants and for drying fleece and wool. We even have a ceiling fan, so we could use it on warmer days if not for the Devil's Daughters. Hmm, maybe they're Dante's cousins.

[Martha]

Your deck is huge! Quite excellent.

Hugs to Alice, I hope she's feeling better soon.

[Cheryl]

Doesn't a deck make all the difference in the world to an apartment? Mine is so tiny, but I still love it. Just having that few feet to put plants and flowers on makes such a difference. And being able to open the big doors to the outside... I could go on and on.

[Cordelia]

Decks are the best.
And that doesn't look much at all like what I know of Brooklyn. Lucky you.
I hope your husband is better, and taking it *much* easier. And Alice, too.
Can't say it enough: stay cool.