It is, at this point (day six of "hot"), redundant to speak of the heat. Save the lucky ones with air conditioned lives, we are sick of the oppressive mugginess and sick of hearing ourselves talk about it.
Much like during the snow and ice storms of last winter, Portlanders are generally ill-equipped to deal with extreme weather such as this. We escape to climate controlled movie theaters and libraries, to the sprinkler in the park or the kiddy pool in a friend’s back yard. Mostly though, we just wait it out, complaining all the way. In less grumpy moments, we might even laugh at ourselves, in a sad sort of way, as we express our relief when the temperature drops to 98.
Rarely do we experience a summer like this in Portland. Usually the whole damn thing passes with many of us still hungry for warmth and sun. Well, I for one am sorry for all my past complaining, and welcome at any moment, a reprieve.
But in the mean time, and on the bright side, some of the fruits of the garden are living it up. Corn loves the heat, so we’ve been eating as much of it as we can to remind us of the benefits at hand. The sun has also led to an explosion of perfect plums on the tree at our community garden. And so, I am also grateful to this particular summer for giving me delicious plum cobbler and plum ice cream. If truth be told, although it is sort of miserable, it is at the same time somehow wonderful. This weather has allowed all of us to feel a new way in this same old place, which is always pretty great.
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