Once again, the library is a sanctuary. When we were kids living in Scottsdale, AZ, my little brother and I would go to the public library after school, and anytime during the summer, because it was cool inside and there was a chess set that took up a whole large table, with pieces that required two hands to move. A shelf nearby contained the complete collection of Nancy Drew mysteries. It did not take long for my 13-year-old self to devour those. I tried a few Hardy Boys, but found them lacking. Onto Shelley’s Frankenstein and Dumas’s d’Artagnan romances. I especially loved The Man in the Iron Mask.
Fast forward a few decades and my little brother and I are helping take care of a house in the northern reaches of Vermont. It is generally cool here, but this week I am staying here under a heat dome that is also a humidity dome. Usually, this place is so windy that you need to make sure your hat has a chin strap. Not so much this week. The original owner (in our family at least) of this house was my great aunt, and I never understood why on some summer days she would close the house up in the morning. I understand that now. It’s better to have fans blowing 78 degrees around instead of the intermittent breeze blowing 90 degrees around.
That strategy failed today: it was 80+ in the house by 3 pm, and I was worried I would ruin my computer with sweat dripping onto the keyboard.
There is a local library that opened a few years ago that I’ve been meaning to “check out”. I made my way there today in hopes of some air-conditioned air. Oh, did I score! I found a table, after asking the lone librarian if there was one where I could work. Another patron brought a desk chair over to the table, and there I sat for about 2 hours, under the world’s strongest air-conditioning vent. No one has appreciated the flow of air more than I. And then, while I was toiling away, there was a strong thunderstorm, which not only washed my very filthy north-country dirt-road-soot-coated vehicle, but it reduced the temperature by about 10 degrees. I was able to return to the house and open windows to the newly cooled air. And, I have library books to inspire more crafting!
