So glad we've had a couple days of "beneficial rainfall", as the NWS put it. In this drought every little bit helps. I'm also glad for the relative coolness after a hot weekend, minor though that was compared to the extended heat-wave remix which started the month. What a relief when it broke two weeks ago, floods and all. Have only had a few aircon days since, another kind of relief after paying the most recent electric bill.

I don't deal well with extended heat. Even as a kid I never seemed to sweat enough to cool down and remember more than one episode of flushed and fainting when forced to stay in the sun. Of course those were dismissed as laziness and drama and attention-seeking to go along with all my other willful character flaws. Now I wonder if it's more like hypohydrosis, a condition managed by the kinds of behaviors I've developed over the years. It's kinda like autistic masking that way and there's not much point in diagnosing either now.

There are definitely things I like about Fructidor: long, golden afternoons, nasturtiums on the windowsill, seasonal produce in my meals. The veg garden is winding down but still yielding the occasional tomato, shishito, and eggplant. Locally I've been enjoying corn and peaches. Less locally we've made some coastal Maine jaunts for CMBG and scenery. And of course seafood and hot dogs and BBQ and other low-frills fare eaten "in the rough", followed by ice cream. Good food is worth wearing.

Also, there's swimming, which I do like a cork, or maybe a lobster buoy. On Sunday the ocean was swell in both senses and the stiff on-shore breeze meant warm water and a cool beach. I got to play in just the right amount of chop for the first time in ages, jumping up or diving through as required and only experiencing ocean as nettipot once. It was totally worth all the embedded seaweed after. I even slept well by my standards, a solid six hours without leg cramps. Good to be reminded of the difference between tired and fatigued.

Maybe some year I'll manage to arrange a late-summer beachside rental... along with everyone else (Great Whites both hominid and lamnid). Might be worth it even so.