Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Not much of a respite

Saturday September 1, 2012
Charlottesville Virginia

 

Boy is it still hot!

We may have gotten away from Isaac but we sure didn’t get away from the heat.  The high has been from 89-92 here these past several days.  Running is almost as difficult in this heat and humidity as it was in Florida.

We can’t do much outside except in the early morning, it’s too hot and everything on the list that needs to be done is also on the list of things David can’t do. That includes anything that has to do with dirt, sawing, painting……….

willis carrier

 

So Thank goodness for Willis Carrier! 

I’m not sure there would be much of a population below the Mason Dixon line if it weren’t for his invention of air conditioning in 1902.  He invented it for use in manufacturing plants.  It moved from there to the homes of the well to do.  I don’t think it was until after his death in 1950 that regular folks began to have it.  I know my parents’ home wasn’t air conditioned until the 1970’s. But the south owes him a debt assuming they like all this population growth they got as a result.

I remember family trips from Ohio to Ocala Florida in July in the 50’s and always picture pre AC-days in the south with folks sitting on the front porch drinking sweet tea or maybe mint juleps or napping in a room with a fan.  When it’s this hot and humid I know I sure have no energy and don’t feel like doing anything.  No wonder we are considered so sloooow in the south.

 

end of August 001

 

But at least with air conditioning now I can get in a car with my friend Helen on Thursday and go out into the country to see the new house she’s having built and then we can go have lunch in our favorite air conditioned restaurant.

 

end of August 004

 

 

Thanks Willis!  Pretty clear why your company is still thriving.

 

 

 

 

Friday the mailman drops off FOUR postcards. 

The postcards have followed me around and make it on to Winnona’s mirror.  Although I got a note from one wonderful follower that her postcard to David at Moffitt was returned to her, the ones sent to Quail Run were forwarded to us.  There is little doubt Moffitt knows where we are and has an address to send the bills to.  Just not the mail huh?  Color me unimpressed.

But thanks to Quail Run I did get the two postcards my friend Pam sent me from Charlottesville to encourage me to come back.  I got them 3 days after I arrived here.  HA!  J

end of August 008

 

She sent one of Thomas Jefferson’s home Monticello which is an amazing place just  3 miles or so outside of Charlottesville.  She also sent one of the Charlottesville Court House with its requisite Confederate Soldier Statue.

end of August 011

 

My SIL Carol sent me this gorgeous picture of this German castle built as the “personal refuge” for Ludwig II.  She tells me Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle is modeled after it.  She and Roger visited it on another one of their fabulous trips.

 

end of August 015

 

Betty and Joe sent a picture of Mount St. Helens in Oregon which they visited on a recent Friday.  Hard to tell which Friday sent she sent it to Quail Run and they sent it on to me.  So it could be a month ago by this time.  But Oregon is for sure a place on my future agenda.

end of August 010 

Thanks so much to all of you for trying to fill up my mirror.  Take a look now.  Still a little room so if you want to encourage a trip to a beautiful spot, you still have time to send a postcard only now you should send it to 1625 Mason Lane, Charlottesville, VA  22903.  Actually you can always reach me at this address.  If you know a great campground near the spot you like, send me that too!

 

end of August 021

 

Saturday I’m on the phone talking to Carrie and there’s a knock at the door. 

David’s nephew Justin and his darling daughter Norah come to visit.  Norah has a new baby sister Elise who is just over a month old.  So I think she and daddy are giving mommy and Elise some alone time.

Norah likes Winnona, things seem more her size.  And she really likes Handy and Moby.  Justin and I were too busy yakking for me to think of taking any pictures of her playing them or any at all until right before they were leaving.  But we’ll see them again and then I’ll get a picture of her daddy too.

 

 end of August 013A

 

Sure am happy to see September is finally here when HOPEFULLY the temperatures will begin to decrease.  I never want to spend another summer anywhere in the Southern part of the country.  Not even here!!

19 comments:

  1. Add the midwest to somewhere not to be in the summer, too.
    Your mirror is looking great with all those postcards!

    ReplyDelete
  2. the castle looks like the Neuschwanstein Castle I visited in my youth... a nice hiking trail up the mountain side to but most drive on the road to the top...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Boy, thank goodness for Willis Carrier is right! This summer has been especially brutal!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hoping that you both can spend many, many summers north of the Mason Dixon line! Actually, much further north than that! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know our temps in PA are trending cooler. A/C isn't on as long, windows are now open at night. I'm not looking forward to cooler weather, but by the time it gets really cold here, we'll be somewhere warmer ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hate the south and its heat. Sherry, you and David have got to get out west; especially to the Oregon coast. I can only dream at this point, but in the six months right straight through the summer, seldom did I take my sweatshirt off. It was wonderful! Glad the cards are still following you--great inspiration and ideas as to where to travel.

    So happy you and David are doing well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Funny thing about mail when you're on the road. I think fall is here. Wearing a jacket all day.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very nice pictures of you in this blog, Mama - lovely smiles :) Great postcards too. Fall is coming - hopefully, the cooler temperatures are on the way!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. the heat can be sickening for sure...its has really cooled off here...we ran the furnace in the MH this morning to take the chill off..but I love it cool at night...take care...

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm with you. Heat is just too much, of course, snow isn't a whole lot better!

    You have very little mirror space left. When it gets completely covered, how is David going to see to comb his hair? ;c)

    ReplyDelete
  11. SO glad to hear that you're back in town!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Personally, I think you tied the hot, humid weather to Winnona and brought it up to VA with you ... temps were doing just fine before that ;-)))

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well, it should cool down in the next week;o)) Saw the forecast for SC and we will only have a high of 81 and the lows in the 60s... Probably need to get my sweatshirts out;o))

    Hope you and David are both doing well. Know you have to be back in Florida sometime in October... Maybe we can cross paths a day or so:o)))

    ReplyDelete
  14. Willis Carrier was a hero, but he owed it all to John Gorrie! I only know this because we just visited the museum dedicated to him. Glad to see you're doing well!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Not looking forward to the heat and humidity in the midwest now that we have left Maine. (We're in MA at the moment for a couple of days. Hope things cool down for you guys, and soon! You've had more than your share!

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's still plenty part in this part of SC as well. We're still hoping to make it to Asheville where it's getting down into the low 60's at night. I guess Virginia is considered "the south", but it seems so far "up north" to me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. We're looking for cool nights but oh it's going to be awhile! No worries though - we are back in Cedar Key and the ocean is near..ahhhhh!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Glad you are back in home territory... albeit the heat is not what you bargained for. At least here in Maryland and Virginia ... we know that "cool" is just around the corner... so I am okay with the heat on that basis. We are seeing red leaves beginning to fall. and abundant green acorns pelting us and our cars. Poor little Yoda might suffer a concussion for the green acorns!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Its nice that your friends still send you postcards from all over the world. Only a few do that now in this fast pace generation. Internet may be much faster but still nothing beats the old ways. Its much ore sincere.
    horse betting

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are the best part of this blog for me.
I LOVE hearing from you!