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From: "joan reichardt" <>
Subject: Summer Heat
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 10:36:57 -0700


I am far from a sun worshipper and the current heat wave we are enduring in the southern interior of BC does not please me. Apart from the challenge of keeping my plants alive, everything seems to be a huge effort and getting a decent nights' sleep almost impossible. I remember the first summer in Canada. I had arrived at the end of May, and by the time the real heat of a prairie summer arrived we were living in our tiny 2 room apartment and stifling!! I was used to walking everywhere and so would set out to go to town to do my shopping in the (deceptive) cool of the morning, only to find myself overdressed and sweating hot before I got there. I did not have suitable clothing for the heat, it seems to me we wore much the same all year round - with or without a 'woolly', I think I had only one summer dress and it was not a light weight cotton. It never cooled off at night, and during the day, the wind was like a blast from a furnace. My youngest son was born in July (1!
961) and promptly got heat rash. The advice from the Dr.? Keep him cool - some hope!! We went to Waskesui for a couple of weeks and I am not sure whether coping with 5 kids (including a newborn) without plumbing or a frig (we were in a cabin) was better, but at least we were reasonably cool at night.
Being an ambitious gardener I have more than I can cope with, and have many, many, pots on my deck. On the advice of my eldest son I purchased a spiral, self-winding hose, so that I would not have miles of hose waiting to be tripped over. It is like wrestling with an amorous 50 foot boa constrictor!! It winds itself around chair legs, broom handles, itself and my legs - I get a real workout!! Then it springs back into a tangle of coils, lying in wait for the next time. I did have some help when my daughter and her family came from Victoria, but turning teen age boys loose with a riding mower results in 'scorched earth' and getting them to prune results in clear cut!! Oh, well, it will grow back ...eventually.
Our little 'Year of the War Bride" tea party here was great fun and the 'girls' who attended really appreciated it. The daughters who organized it have had thank you cards and calls , and have rashly promised to do it again next year!
Happy summer, everyone! Joan Reichardt.

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