HEAT

If ever I doubted the whole principle of global warming, this past almost-month of truly horrifying temperatures would have convinced me of its existence.  As a San Fernando Valley dweller, you know you will be in for a couple of weeks in August and maybe one in September of triple-digit weather, but I don't remember ever having such a prolonged, intense, unwavering run of hot weather, and I have lived here for 45 years. As a person who lives in a 1948 bungalow without air conditioning (I have an evaporative cooler on the roof with triple vents into the house), it's been mind-numbing. I have always liked my swamp cooler better than air conditioning, because it infuses a little dampness into the air rather than drying out my sinuses as central air can do, and also it's way more environmentally friendly and way less expensive than central air. But this summer has truly tested my resolve.

So today, after three increasingly hot days that never cooled below 80 degrees at night (meaning my house likewise didn't throw off its accumulated weight of heat during the night), I finally gave in and trekked across the valley to my own personal cooling center, aka the cousins' house in Woodland Hills. They do have central air, and they also set me up in a nice upholstered chair in the living room, with a footstool for my lymphedema-prone legs and a small table nearby furnished with a frequently refilled glass of iced tea, and I can sit in a blissfully temperate clime and read my book, I can nod off if I want, and if I get bored with sitting and reading, I can go hang and visit with one or both of them. Add to that a "catered" lunch and dinner (me being the one catered to), and you can hardly beat it. I try not to take advantage of this option too often, but today it was a lifesaver, and I stayed from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. I'd be there for the next four days until it "cools down" to 90 degrees if it weren't for my cat at home alone in my stuffy little house! (She's fine.)

Halfway through the afternoon I finished reading my current book and felt too restless to start the next one (although it was waiting on my Kindle); one cousin was napping on the sofa, while the other was working at her remote job on the computer in the den, so I hauled out my sketchbook and did a little "urban sketching" (hey, it may be an interior of a house, but that house is in Los Angeles, so it counts as urban!). I greatly admire the detailed interiors of artist Steven Reddy (and own a couple of his books), so I just sat tight in my comfy chair and sketched what was directly in front of me, including my own image in the big mirror on the wall. Not everything is in the best proportion (I'm too big, as are the lamps, in comparison to the sofa!), but everything was rendered pretty faithfully. I didn't take my paints, so I added the watercolor once I got home.

"House of Cos"—Uniball pen and watercolors in Bee mixed media sketchbook, 8x8 inches.