I did not cry yesterday, yet cloudy and way too cold for summer! Only 16C, your weather, I reckon ;-) Where is the rain? Oh. Yes. If I cry now? But life is too good for that (just got a kiss from Ingo).
Clouds are good, but 16 is too hot. It's raining and 13 here. Love the rain, wish it was 6 or 7 degrees cooler, but hey, it's June, so good enough :-)
When I came across the quote in a book, it was a good reminder of how things are impermanent and interconnected. I am exhausted and dealing with depression--worse than what I normally feel in summer--it was good to remember that everything is impermanent and this will pass.
I also truly wish it would rain here too, just too danged hot and we do need the rain. I really like him, he often says some very meaningful things.
I am thankful that the longest day is behind us now... I hate the heat and eye-piercing sun myself. I'm grateful that some businesses open early enough to make it possible to enjoy the brief morning chill if one has to venture-out. I tend to spend most of these days with all the cooling curtains and things shut and evenings/late-night doing whatever I would normally enjoy on a short winter sort of day. (That way the weather isn't as likely to mess things up.) Thinking clearly isn't so easy in this kind of weather as well. At least I can cook and plan ahead better at night. (Its something.) I love it when the 'darkest and coolest' time of the day always come before the dawn, it's almost as an apology.
Hmm maybe you could try that cord with a couple basic knots? =)
Too hot! ;-) Sorry about your depression, just let no one talk you into citalopram or opipram or such. They talked me into that, it did not help, I was but tired and sick from those. A friend is on citalopram, she mainly lies in bed now, I have not heard a thing. I think maybe just going outside for strolls works best, at least for me. I wish you all the best. And that it will pass soon.
Joy--So true! Thich Nhat Hanh is a very wise person and quite an example of the best sort of human. I listen to his old dharma talks and find them helpful.
I am grateful that it does not get extremely hot here. Buildings and such are not really set up for that--can't use window AC, for example. A few years ago, we had an extended heat wave and drought. By heatwave, I mean maybe low 80s. There was a real problem in hospitals and some other buildings, because they were so hot after a while and there were no portable AC units to be had. Like you, I'm so glad to be past solstice and to have a tiny bit less daylight every day. Autumn is on the way! :-)
Iris--I don't take any meds for depression or much of anything, really, other than a very occasional aspirin and half an allergy pill per day for a while and then every other day for a while. Nothing would induce me to go on the anti-depressants, because I have only heard bad things about them from people with experience taking them :-(
I always have these issues in summer and they are connected, I suppose. I don't sleep well in summer and that makes the depression worse. It's worse this year in part because they are doing a renovation of an old hotel building across the street. That's a small building, but they're digging big holes in the back and on the side and there is a guy out there early banging on rocks with his digger. Some mornings, he's been out there as early as 6. I rely on autumn and winter to rest and recover from summer--I sleep well and feel good. But last winter, I didn't get that, since we discovered some serious issues with this apt once we turned on the heat and those interfered with sleep. Now it's summer and I'm not sleeping well, as usual. I know that if I could get a stretch of time where I slept well, I'd be a lot better off, but I haven't had that in over a year. If we're still here for the next winter, I don't know what I will do, because the issues we had last year will return. I am exhausted. We have been looking for a place for a while, but had to pass on several possibilities when we were in lockdown. Now the market is tight and letting agents are often pretty unprofessional in terms of communication and stuff, so we've not had any luck so far. But we keep our fingers crossed!
12 and windy today--with beautiful grey sky. Gonna enjoy it, because it's supposed to be sunny and 20 next week and I will not be enjoying that crap!
How about going back to Alaska? I get sad come the dark, cold half of the year, so I understand you.
Unprofessional, I so am with you. I get "professionals" to rent the apartment I inherited. They got a guy from Spain who called me to complain it´s much colder in Germany than in Spain. Duuuude. Such "news". And I pay for the "service". My now tenant called me it´s too hot. What did she expect, 5th floor, huge window to the South?
Freezing my but# off at 18C today. How can people feel so different? My Brother takes a lasagna out of the oven with a plain kitchen towel. I need the super-heat-proofed gloves from ALDI. I run away from Ingo when he wants me to taste whilst cooking, too hot! "It´s only warm" - hahaha. Heat only from weather, please.
Oh, we should be allowed to live where we like it. Perth it would be for me. Or Cuba. They don´t take us. Stuck in Germany. (Australia only takes people under 50 and healthy, Ingo has none of that).
Nothing lasts forever. This is one reason the quote resonated with me so much at this time. One day, it will no longer be summer. It will no longer be sunny at 4 am. We will live somewhere else that does not have the issues this place has. I can't know when or how this will be, but I will appreciate it more because of our experience here. When it's chilly and dark and I'm encased in woolly things I've created, I will love it even more because I've dragged myself through summer to get there. I find this comforting. :-)
Goodness I had no idea about the AC issue. Is it because so many of the buildings are made of stone or? (It might be worth seeing if the next place COULD have one or not as a matter of choice.) You might have heard that the W Coast US is expected to have several high record days this weekend in the 100's+. I'm a bit closer to the coast than some so I get a small break from some of the heat and I have AC (which doesn't always help as much as one might hope when it's that hot) but it definitely cuts the edge off enough to be grateful to have it.
There's been some rumors saying that they 'finished figuring out the genome' recently. I don't know if it's true or not but it would be so interesting to find out if our feelings about this being so similar could be tied to some group of people from somewhere that we share some grandparent from.
I imagine some group where weather was cool and sun was hidden a good bit. That the people may have adapted to this environment and learned to love it, thrive in it to the point that it was built into their whole way of being and now it's ours. I know in some places it's considered 'a disorder' but I don't think so I just think we're maybe genetically adapted to a different preference. This makes sense since the other side of the calendar is so much more enjoyable and familiar. There's other adaptive things like taking Vitamin D3 (sublingually) etc to keep health going since so many things depend on it. My specialists told me years ago that after about 45 everyone needs to supplement with it and no amount of sun past that point is 'safe' to 'get enough' as one needs daily anyway without raising inflammation levels etc. They usually suggest b12 sublingual at the same time in methylated form.
I think on a planetary level 'someone has to like' those other times of year... be grateful for them as we are. I think there's something more uniquely cozy and 'nesty' about that time of the year. It raises our sort of nurturing creativity and that raises the comfort of others as well. We serve our purpose to raise the vibration of that season just as other seasons are loved and not 'just because of the holidays' that tend to come along then either. I often hear people saying that they love that time of year but it's rarely for the weather/shorter days... and then here we come along.
Interesting to note: One thing that's funny about Finnish people is if you ask them what it's like to live in their country they'll usually say it's horribly cold and dark 10 months of the year. It's a gross exaggeration btw, considering Midsummer is almost light constantly or dusky at least which is gorgeous, but it's their perception to 'get away from it as soon as you possibly can'. (Likely because it's not like the rest of the world who may have more sun annually). I'd book a 1-way ticket back asap if I could. Hopefully covid wont make that impossible for me in future.
I hope you have a great day counting away the daylight and that rain, when it comes, is a comfort. (I love rain it always feels so cleansing.) =)
It's the windows. They don't slide up and down and there's no standard size. They open out from the top or swing outward or we have had some slide down from the top and swing inward from the top. It's more about being able to keep them open in the rain, I think. I don't think they even sell window AC here. No screens, either.
No AC is needed here, usually, but with weather changes due to climate chaos, that may change in future! 😞
Ohh, how interesting that it's the sort of window at issue. In some of the housing along the CA Coast there is no way to heat the places, an interesting situation given the chill off the ocean. I was thinking about this conversation and wondering if in travel circles people talk about this phenomenon. I know my Grandparents were 'snowbirds'. PNW-AZ but what if there are people who regularly travel around to follow the milder temps or even rain?
On random search I stumbled into an article in the Herald Tribune by Budge Huskey (actual name) from Feb 28th this year. The title is: "HOME FRONT: Snowbirds are morphing into sunbirds." This was an interesting sentence:
“A sunbird is one who leaves warmer locales in the summer, migrating to cooler locales such as higher elevations or more northerly regions.”
This would seem to prove also that those of us with various heat intolerance health issues etc (like I have), also have cause to seek the milder/cooler/darker locations. They've left-out the part in their description where perhaps people travel to follow cooler weather like perhaps to experience the winter of places like Australia which is opposite to us... It would be so interesting to look across the globe and see places where one could holiday at the worst of it (summer), in trade for the best elsewhere.
I bet a person could find some really interesting research on new travel-trends, especially with the climate issues and the new intensities of heat etc in some places.
I suspect there will be more and more of us, Joy, as places become more dangerously hot. :-( Stay safe in this heatwave!
The summer issues are just part of my life at this point, Iris, so it doesn't matter where I am for that unless I could live out my days on Antarctica! ;-) But the problems this past winter were down to this apt, so hopefully we will be elsewhere by the next one. We don't have any specific location in mind--we're just going to pursue whatever becomes available in a place that'll work for us (bus service, GP, grocery store). Not having much luck so far, but we press on :-) I am curious to see what happens.
OH Shari, the place I found to move to is rather like a daylight basement apt. Somehow the balconies of the above floor jut out enough along with the landscaping in a way that makes it rather dark and shady all the time on the first floor. That might be the perfect set up both to manage heat as well as off-set any direct sun =). It might be ok in the right building, and windows facing the right directions. As long as it's not poorly built (leaks etc) it could be perfect for you guys. I also had a place once where the windows faced opposite of morning/afternoon sun, that was also great for off-setting the heat.
17 comments:
Then I should have cried yesterday and the announced rain would REALLY have come. (So far it has unfortunately not rained ...)
XoX Traude
Fingers crossed for rain and coolness--may relief be on its way.
I did not cry yesterday, yet cloudy and way too cold for summer! Only 16C, your weather, I reckon ;-)
Where is the rain? Oh. Yes. If I cry now? But life is too good for that (just got a kiss from Ingo).
Clouds are good, but 16 is too hot. It's raining and 13 here. Love the rain, wish it was 6 or 7 degrees cooler, but hey, it's June, so good enough :-)
When I came across the quote in a book, it was a good reminder of how things are impermanent and interconnected. I am exhausted and dealing with depression--worse than what I normally feel in summer--it was good to remember that everything is impermanent and this will pass.
I also truly wish it would rain here too, just too danged hot and we do need the rain.
I really like him, he often says some very meaningful things.
I am thankful that the longest day is behind us now... I hate the heat and eye-piercing sun myself. I'm grateful that some businesses open early enough to make it possible to enjoy the brief morning chill if one has to venture-out. I tend to spend most of these days with all the cooling curtains and things shut and evenings/late-night doing whatever I would normally enjoy on a short winter sort of day. (That way the weather isn't as likely to mess things up.) Thinking clearly isn't so easy in this kind of weather as well. At least I can cook and plan ahead better at night. (Its something.) I love it when the 'darkest and coolest' time of the day always come before the dawn, it's almost as an apology.
Hmm maybe you could try that cord with a couple basic knots? =)
Too hot! ;-)
Sorry about your depression, just let no one talk you into citalopram or opipram or such.
They talked me into that, it did not help, I was but tired and sick from those.
A friend is on citalopram, she mainly lies in bed now, I have not heard a thing.
I think maybe just going outside for strolls works best, at least for me.
I wish you all the best. And that it will pass soon.
Joy--So true! Thich Nhat Hanh is a very wise person and quite an example of the best sort of human. I listen to his old dharma talks and find them helpful.
I am grateful that it does not get extremely hot here. Buildings and such are not really set up for that--can't use window AC, for example. A few years ago, we had an extended heat wave and drought. By heatwave, I mean maybe low 80s. There was a real problem in hospitals and some other buildings, because they were so hot after a while and there were no portable AC units to be had. Like you, I'm so glad to be past solstice and to have a tiny bit less daylight every day. Autumn is on the way! :-)
Iris--I don't take any meds for depression or much of anything, really, other than a very occasional aspirin and half an allergy pill per day for a while and then every other day for a while. Nothing would induce me to go on the anti-depressants, because I have only heard bad things about them from people with experience taking them :-(
I always have these issues in summer and they are connected, I suppose. I don't sleep well in summer and that makes the depression worse. It's worse this year in part because they are doing a renovation of an old hotel building across the street. That's a small building, but they're digging big holes in the back and on the side and there is a guy out there early banging on rocks with his digger. Some mornings, he's been out there as early as 6. I rely on autumn and winter to rest and recover from summer--I sleep well and feel good. But last winter, I didn't get that, since we discovered some serious issues with this apt once we turned on the heat and those interfered with sleep. Now it's summer and I'm not sleeping well, as usual. I know that if I could get a stretch of time where I slept well, I'd be a lot better off, but I haven't had that in over a year. If we're still here for the next winter, I don't know what I will do, because the issues we had last year will return. I am exhausted. We have been looking for a place for a while, but had to pass on several possibilities when we were in lockdown. Now the market is tight and letting agents are often pretty unprofessional in terms of communication and stuff, so we've not had any luck so far. But we keep our fingers crossed!
12 and windy today--with beautiful grey sky. Gonna enjoy it, because it's supposed to be sunny and 20 next week and I will not be enjoying that crap!
How about going back to Alaska?
I get sad come the dark, cold half of the year, so I understand you.
Unprofessional, I so am with you. I get "professionals" to rent the apartment I inherited. They got a guy from Spain who called me to complain it´s much colder in Germany than in Spain. Duuuude. Such "news".
And I pay for the "service".
My now tenant called me it´s too hot. What did she expect, 5th floor, huge window to the South?
Freezing my but# off at 18C today. How can people feel so different?
My Brother takes a lasagna out of the oven with a plain kitchen towel. I need the super-heat-proofed gloves from ALDI. I run away from Ingo when he wants me to taste whilst cooking, too hot! "It´s only warm" - hahaha. Heat only from weather, please.
Oh, we should be allowed to live where we like it. Perth it would be for me. Or Cuba.
They don´t take us. Stuck in Germany. (Australia only takes people under 50 and healthy, Ingo has none of that).
Hope you cope better soon.
Thanks, Iris. One day, it'll be over, one way or another! 🙂
That sounds scary - thank you for the 🙂
Nothing lasts forever. This is one reason the quote resonated with me so much at this time. One day, it will no longer be summer. It will no longer be sunny at 4 am. We will live somewhere else that does not have the issues this place has. I can't know when or how this will be, but I will appreciate it more because of our experience here. When it's chilly and dark and I'm encased in woolly things I've created, I will love it even more because I've dragged myself through summer to get there. I find this comforting. :-)
Goodness I had no idea about the AC issue. Is it because so many of the buildings are made of stone or? (It might be worth seeing if the next place COULD have one or not as a matter of choice.) You might have heard that the W Coast US is expected to have several high record days this weekend in the 100's+. I'm a bit closer to the coast than some so I get a small break from some of the heat and I have AC (which doesn't always help as much as one might hope when it's that hot) but it definitely cuts the edge off enough to be grateful to have it.
There's been some rumors saying that they 'finished figuring out the genome' recently. I don't know if it's true or not but it would be so interesting to find out if our feelings about this being so similar could be tied to some group of people from somewhere that we share some grandparent from.
I imagine some group where weather was cool and sun was hidden a good bit. That the people may have adapted to this environment and learned to love it, thrive in it to the point that it was built into their whole way of being and now it's ours. I know in some places it's considered 'a disorder' but I don't think so I just think we're maybe genetically adapted to a different preference. This makes sense since the other side of the calendar is so much more enjoyable and familiar. There's other adaptive things like taking Vitamin D3 (sublingually) etc to keep health going since so many things depend on it. My specialists told me years ago that after about 45 everyone needs to supplement with it and no amount of sun past that point is 'safe' to 'get enough' as one needs daily anyway without raising inflammation levels etc. They usually suggest b12 sublingual at the same time in methylated form.
I think on a planetary level 'someone has to like' those other times of year... be grateful for them as we are. I think there's something more uniquely cozy and 'nesty' about that time of the year. It raises our sort of nurturing creativity and that raises the comfort of others as well. We serve our purpose to raise the vibration of that season just as other seasons are loved and not 'just because of the holidays' that tend to come along then either. I often hear people saying that they love that time of year but it's rarely for the weather/shorter days... and then here we come along.
Interesting to note: One thing that's funny about Finnish people is if you ask them what it's like to live in their country they'll usually say it's horribly cold and dark 10 months of the year. It's a gross exaggeration btw, considering Midsummer is almost light constantly or dusky at least which is gorgeous, but it's their perception to 'get away from it as soon as you possibly can'. (Likely because it's not like the rest of the world who may have more sun annually). I'd book a 1-way ticket back asap if I could. Hopefully covid wont make that impossible for me in future.
I hope you have a great day counting away the daylight and that rain, when it comes, is a comfort. (I love rain it always feels so cleansing.) =)
It's the windows. They don't slide up and down and there's no standard size. They open out from the top or swing outward or we have had some slide down from the top and swing inward from the top. It's more about being able to keep them open in the rain, I think. I don't think they even sell window AC here. No screens, either.
No AC is needed here, usually, but with weather changes due to climate chaos, that may change in future! 😞
Ohh, how interesting that it's the sort of window at issue. In some of the housing along the CA Coast there is no way to heat the places, an interesting situation given the chill off the ocean. I was thinking about this conversation and wondering if in travel circles people talk about this phenomenon. I know my Grandparents were 'snowbirds'. PNW-AZ but what if there are people who regularly travel around to follow the milder temps or even rain?
On random search I stumbled into an article in the Herald Tribune by Budge Huskey (actual name) from Feb 28th this year. The title is: "HOME FRONT: Snowbirds are morphing into sunbirds." This was an interesting sentence:
“A sunbird is one who leaves warmer locales in the summer, migrating to cooler locales such as higher elevations or more northerly regions.”
This would seem to prove also that those of us with various heat intolerance health issues etc (like I have), also have cause to seek the milder/cooler/darker locations. They've left-out the part in their description where perhaps people travel to follow cooler weather like perhaps to experience the winter of places like Australia which is opposite to us... It would be so interesting to look across the globe and see places where one could holiday at the worst of it (summer), in trade for the best elsewhere.
I bet a person could find some really interesting research on new travel-trends, especially with the climate issues and the new intensities of heat etc in some places.
Any plans where you will go to get better?
I suspect there will be more and more of us, Joy, as places become more dangerously hot. :-( Stay safe in this heatwave!
The summer issues are just part of my life at this point, Iris, so it doesn't matter where I am for that unless I could live out my days on Antarctica! ;-) But the problems this past winter were down to this apt, so hopefully we will be elsewhere by the next one. We don't have any specific location in mind--we're just going to pursue whatever becomes available in a place that'll work for us (bus service, GP, grocery store). Not having much luck so far, but we press on :-) I am curious to see what happens.
OH Shari, the place I found to move to is rather like a daylight basement apt. Somehow the balconies of the above floor jut out enough along with the landscaping in a way that makes it rather dark and shady all the time on the first floor. That might be the perfect set up both to manage heat as well as off-set any direct sun =). It might be ok in the right building, and windows facing the right directions. As long as it's not poorly built (leaks etc) it could be perfect for you guys. I also had a place once where the windows faced opposite of morning/afternoon sun, that was also great for off-setting the heat.
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