35 C (96 F) and, standing outside doing nothing, it feels like a giant hot breath is breathing all over you. I can only be grateful I have the luxury of sitting and doing nothing!
No breeze to speak of yet, and it's not even the hottest part of the day!
Maybe one day our grass will come back. (actually our weeds. long ago all the grass was consumed by weeds...) I can't believe that it was all so lush a few months ago! Don't think I'll be spending anytime in the hammock today!
It is definitely hot.
Still, it's a perfect day for a holy day. Today is the "Feast of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady, The Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary" (Mother of Jesus) The Greek Orthodox church celebrates this feast day. The Catholic Church calls it the Assumption of Mary the Mother of Jesus, and it's a holy day of obligation. (Yes, though I no longer walk the walk, all those years have trained me to remember the seasons by Saints days and Holy days.)
"Χρόνια Πολλά"; (English: "For Many More Years" (literally) it's also the "name day" for all the Mary's and Maria's of the world. Marie is part of my name so today is MY day.
Years ago I remember being with my aunt in Belgium at the seaside in Blankenberge and the two of us (Marie was our second name, each of us) would celebrate and go out and buy something for ourselves. (well, I'd get to pick something and she'd buy it for me...)
Meanwhile, a neighborhood get-together is planned for this evening! Lovely neighbor Diana is hosting... (But NOT until after it cools down a bit (after 9 PM!)
Very sad to see the grass and everything else dry up and wilt in the heat of summer when you know how pretty it was before. Watering becomes a hopeless task.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have air-conditioning in your house. The heat really saps the energy out of your body!
The heat and humidity of summer has been more so, than usual for here...keeping me in during the hottest times of day. We're inching our way into autumn, with the leaves and grass of the field turning a lighter shade of green.
ReplyDeleteI love the name Marie, we named our daughter Annette Marie!
It is soooo hot here too...100F as I'm writing this. It's impossible to move about without feeling exhausted.
ReplyDeleteHope it cools down enough for you to have a lovely time tonight! xx
Dear Miss Footloose,
ReplyDeleteSeeing everything parched and 'dead' is really depressing sometimes. Still I am grateful for the shade of my trees.
I can't help but think of the public housing that is being built close to the village (a large old grove was sold to the developers).
The builders removed every single old olive tree to build these buildings- even the trees that weren't even in the way!
It makes me think how hot it will be in the summertime and how impossible it will be to replace those trees. (particularly in heat like this!)
Dear Wanda,
I too am looking forward to autumn. Not just for the cooler weather but for the visit of my middle son as well as a wedding in Brussels!
I love the name too. When I was a baby the Catholic priest wouldn't baptize me unless my parents gave me a "Christian" name, so my name is hyphenated (on my baptismal papers) Jessica-Marie.
(in fact my father had picked my first name and my mother had wanted me named Marie-Rose. They compromised. On my birth certificate my name is Jessica Marie-Rose.
Dear Ayak,
PLEASE drink lots of water and keep a damp towel handy to put on your neck! It's so easy in this high heat to get a touch of heat stroke!
I am lucky. We have air-conditioning... tho we keep it warm-ish for air cons, it's SO much cooler than outside.
All the animals went out early this morning and then insisted on coming back into the house!
~~~
Thanks for all the comments. I am going to try to do really short little posts for a while I think, and just use one picture- for now anyway.