We're Having a Heat Wave, A Tropical Heat Wave...

        Summer. Yep, it's here.  Forty-two degrees celcius -  the humidex today and for me, it is just too much.  Yet, I am one of the blessed ones. I have an air conditioned home and car and my classroom has a window air conditioner that takes the edge off if nothing else.

        Have you noticed how everything seems more exaggerated when it's this hot? My students are much louder when these days come upon us. They seem to crash through doors and bang lockers and converse louder over the roar of the AC and I have to top them to get their attention. These sweaty-faced rascals have come to the near end of the school year and they are like greyhounds straining at tightly tethered leashes. I can hardly wait to set them free....free to cope with this heat in swimming pools and camps, at their grandparents' houses and on camping vacations with friends and family. And as the rope slackens, I too am free. Long postponed novels and stretches of time to study and write and paint...time will be my own for a period. The heat is not a long-sought-after thing for me. But breezy summer days are upon us and I intend to spend as much time as possible out-of-doors this season.