It’s been a bit of a whirlwind around here lately – deadlines & cooking classes galore with last minute radio spots and packing up missthing for 3 weeks of camp all while playing single mom in the miserably muggy weather. Last Thursday, when you could see the air and it smelled like mildew outside and I couldn’t take it anymore, I got our wonderful neighbor Brian to come help me reinstall the not-finished-french doors between the dining room and sunroom so that I could shut the house up and keep the humidity levels sane. I can take the heat and even the humidity, but I can’t take the effect humidity has on the inside of my house. Living in Alabama for almost a decade, I never had central AC – all through college I lived in wonderful old houses that had lots of big trees & ceiling fans, very similar to what I live with now – and I learned to just deal with it. I also had a car that did not have air conditioning. Ever drive along the Gulf Coast Fourth of July without AC in the middle of the day? To this day, AC in a car is a wonderful, wonderful luxury.
So I’m quite used to dealing with heat & humidity. It seems that spending too much time inside in AC this time of year results in sinus infections for all of us – I woke up just this morning with that telltale pressure on the right side of my face. Thankfully, the weather is supposed to become far more pleasant later in the week, so hopefully we can open the house back up again.
Pat spent last week running the Middle James Expedition– while Edie & I held down the home front. Despite our house being the muggiest one around, her pals were in & out all week long. A huge thanks to Teresa, who had Edie over for a sleepover while I drove over to Harrisonburg and back for a canning demonstration at Friendly City Co-op. Thanks to everyone who came out to that – I had a great time and am looking forward to going back over for a pressure canning demo in a few weeks. Saturday morning after a quick phone appearance on WINA talking about the upcoming swap, I assisted with Erica’s Cooking with A Whole Chicken Class for Market Central,while running last minute errands and doing laundry in order to get up and drop Edie at camp Sunday morning.
After which, we stopped at the nearest open brewery and toasted our child-free status for the next three weeks.
I’ll miss not finding feet pictures on my camera the next three weeks, but I have plenty of adventures lined up to keep me occupied, starting with tonight’s canning class at PVCC, a fridge full of produce I need to deal with ASAP and the mailing of a care package of the things she forgot to pack. Like toothpaste.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 
I grew up without A/C too, although in southern MI, so it wasn’t as hot or humid (but still hot and humid enough!). My parent’s house (they still live there) doesn’t have a forced-air furnace, so when they finally decided to put A/C in, they put in a gravity system, where the cold air is produced in the attic and falls throughout the house. It works well, doesn’t involve forced air, and keeps the bedrooms upstairs nice and cool.
Rob and I didn’t have A/C in this house either, until Emma was about a year old. We realized that we were really snapping at each other with the heat/humidity/baby combination, and bought a window unit. It made a big difference for us! (That was before we built the addition to our house, when we added central air.)
I grew up without AC in Pennsylvania too, but that first summer in Alabama was brutal. We still don’t have central AC but we have window units that do the trick. A dehumidifier helps too!
Blue Mountain is my favorite brewery in Nelson…I like it better than Devil’s Backbone. The first Friday night of the month is save the glass! We happened to make it in for one of those…love getting a glass to take home after I enjoy the beer!
Pat won a basket of goodies from them at a holiday party last year, so we have several of their glasses, as well as a t-shirt and a growler!
If I lived alone, I probably wouldn’t bother with air conditioning, but in our house, our tempers flare when it is hot, so we turn on the AC to keep the peace.
Sounds like you are very busy!
It definitely makes for easier living among us.
You’ve been busting your hump, lady! Glad you have some cool temps to take the pressure off. I know how sluggish that heat makes me feel, and I know you guys get it much worse.