By Suzanne Sparrow Watson<\/p>\n
Eight months of the year I live in Paradise, otherwise known as Scottsdale, Arizona.\u00a0 Contrary to popular belief, it does get cold here in the winter \u2013 we\u2019ve had a freak snowfall most every year \u2013 but generally we have sunny days and 70 degree temperatures.\u00a0 It\u2019s what causes some of my jerkier acquaintances to call home to Minnesota every January and taunt their friends who are digging out from an ice storm.<\/p>\n
But all that is about to change.\u00a0 This past weekend we had our first 100 degree temperature of the year.\u00a0 That\u2019s right \u2013 it\u2019s frigging APRIL and we hit the century mark already.\u00a0 Although it will cool down a bit this week, the fact that we\u2019ve had a 100 degree day means only one thing:\u00a0 we are once again facing hell on Earth.\u00a0 Literally.\u00a0 The average<\/em> temperature here in July and August is 105.\u00a0 That would almost be bearable except that the average low is 75. \u00a0So it never cools off.\u00a0 We are God\u2019s warming drawer for four months of the year.<\/p>\n I know that the conventional wisdom is that it\u2019s a dry heat, but then again, so is my microwave oven and you won\u2019t see me living in that. \u00a0In the 14 years we\u2019ve lived here I\u2019ve never become used to this \u201cupside down\u201d schedule.\u00a0 My whole life I was conditioned to love summer \u2013 school was out, we looked forward to time at Tahoe, and we had lots of beer parties.\u00a0 Now summer is something to be dreaded.\u00a0 Somehow that still seems unnatural to me.<\/p>\n Our strategy since I retired ten years ago is to escape out of here each summer.\u00a0 We have tried all sorts of combinations for our summer road trips \u2013 renting for a month, staying in hotels for a week or two, mooching off some of our friends who have mountain homes.\u00a0 Two years ago when our house was being remodeled we rented a condo in Sun Valley, Idaho for three months.\u00a0 Ironically, that was our worst summer.\u00a0 I have to admit, as nice as it was to get away for the whole summer, I really missed my \u201cstuff\u201d at home.<\/p>\n So once again this summer we will be in and out of Arizona, traveling to California\u2019s central coast, the Bay Area and up to Sun Valley.\u00a0 That leaves a lot of time to sit at home in the air conditioning and get stuff done.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already started to compose my list of \u201csummer projects\u201d; really fun stuff like cleaning and organizing drawers, saving computer files to a hard disk, and alphabetizing the spice rack.<\/p>\n But I also have a potential blockbuster to keep me occupied. When I did our family history last year I traced it back to medieval England, and there is some possibility that one of our lines goes back to the Irish kings.\u00a0 If true, that would go a long way towards explaining Bob\u2019s propensity to enter every Irish pub he sees.\u00a0\u00a0 We also might be related to King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, in which case I think we are 16,346 in line to the British throne.\u00a0 You\u2019d think that should have warranted an invitation to the Royal Wedding last year.<\/p>\n So, as those of you in other states get ready for BBQ\u2019s, planting a garden or just chilling at the beach, I will be putting the cardamom between the caraway seeds and the cayenne pepper.\u00a0 And, maybe, getting fitted for my tiara.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Eight months of the year I live in Paradise, otherwise known as Scottsdale, Arizona.\u00a0 Contrary to popular belief, it does get cold here in the winter \u2013 we\u2019ve had a freak snowfall most every year \u2013 … read more