Two Months

Ruth has been a member of our family for exactly two months.

We celebrated with the usual morning walk and swim.



It was so insanely hot that I went back into the lake to cool down as soon as we got home. I successfully avoided all radio or television weather reports...I just didn't want to know the temperature. (Or the latest horrible headlines from Israel, Lebanon, and Iraq.) But eventually I caved, and watched a local forecast to learn what's in store for the rest of the week. That's how I found out that the official Lakes Region reporting center on the other side of the lake hit 96 degrees.

My brain didn't seem too scrambled by the heat...it functioned well enough to complete a crucial chapter, now printed out and ready for some late-night editing. All day I didn't want anything to do with food. Ruth slept at my feet, stunned into immobility. Occasionally I grazed on dried fruit and drank lots of liquids. I finally braved the kitchen to make pesto rotini, and ate it cold for supper.

The sun was blazing on our west-facing dock into the evening hours--Ruth and I didn't go down there until eight o'clock. We had a sunset swim to cool off. (After dinner--and no, Mom, I didn't wait twenty minutes before going into the water.) The little dog was hot that I was able to coax her down the rocks and into the water so she could paddle around with me--a first! She much prefers the sandy bottom on the private beach.