I moved to the mountains of Virginia from Texas in large part to escape from the summer heat, and this week it seems to be coming after me because we’re getting hit with a heat wave. We might even make it to 100 degrees. They’ve been talking about this and warning us on the local weather forecast, and I was getting caught up in the hype, and then I realized that the heat wave is pretty much a normal July in Texas, and it won’t even be quite as bad because it’ll still be under 80 overnight. That was the part about Texas summers that got to me, that you could get up at 6 in the morning and it would already be about 83 degrees. At least we’ll be in the lower 70s overnight. The big difference in the mornings so far has been that I don’t need a sweater to sit on the deck to drink tea and read the newspaper in the morning.

One thing that is worse here is the humidity. I thought it was pretty humid in Texas, and on paper it didn’t seem to be that much worse here, but it feels a lot worse, so it feels hotter. I had a chance to ask the local TV meteorologist about that at a library talk, and she said it may be that the humid layer goes up higher in the atmosphere and there’s less wind during the summer here. It also feels like the direct sun is more intense. When it was about 85 in Texas in the summer, we’d consider that cool, and here I go indoors and close the blinds.

The sad thing is that this is hitting for the July 4 weekend. I’d been thinking about walking to the park to go to the city parade, but it may be too uncomfortable. It is in the morning so it may not be too hot. My main activity may be going to an organ concert of patriotic music being held at the church. I can see the city fireworks from my house, so I can sit on the front porch for that, or maybe even lie in bed and watch through my bedroom window. I think I’m going to make barbecued chicken (cooked indoors, not grilling outside), and I’ve got raspberry pie from the berries in my yard. I may watch Hamilton again in the evening before the fireworks start. I’ll watch the Capitol Fourth and the fireworks from Mount Vernon on PBS on Friday night, so I’ll get my fill of fireworks.

I’m giving myself the day off on Friday, so no post then. I figure I need a holiday every so often. There are some things going on in town I want to go to, or I may be lazy and stay home in the air conditioning.