Summertime...and the living is sweaty

- July 15, 2020

He handed her a shovel and they began to dig, and as the afternoon wore on and the heat rose, so did tempers. The allure of treasure was one thing. The actual back-breaking work of digging in the hot sun, sweat pouring off her body and blisters rising on her hands was another. But she didn’t give up, and if the occasional raw word slipped out, it was only to be expected. She wiped her hand across her wet face, not caring she left dirt and sand in its wake. Thunder rumbled to the west and a breeze sprang up, whipping the tree branches. Sophia paused to let the cooler air flow across her.

“We have to stop, it’s going to rain.”

“We cannot stop yet, Jack, there is still daylight!”

“Sophia, I am not going to stand here and get soaked—”

His sentence was punctuated with the plop! of a large drop of water at his feet. A moment later one hit Sophia on the nose, and then in the next instant while she looked at Jack, the sky opened and the squall came down in torrents, soaking them where they stood.

--The Bride and the Buccaneer

Greetings from North Central Florida, where the afternoon temps have been holding steady in the "feels like" range of 100-106F (37-41C). There's an old saying that it was "DDT and air-conditioning that made modern Florida", and there's some truth to that. Back when Yellow Fever ravaged the state as mosquitoes spread like our modern day plagues, it was not a place anyone wanted to be in the summer.

And then there's the heat. Just like the old saying, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity", Florida summer heat, especially inland, is a deal breaker. If you have to be outside it's best to go between dawn and 9 a.m., or at dusk, because otherwise you're at risk of heatstroke. Being near a body of water helps, as do the regular afternoon rainstorms. A fierce storm will roll through and while it's still steamy afterward, at least it's a little cooler.

I'm fortunate that I live in an air-conditioned house, but the old homes were built up on bricks and aligned with a "dogtrot" down the center to maximize air-flow. Part of the fun of writing my Florida set novels is driving the backroads to check out the old homesteads and see how people worked with the climate, not against the climate when they were building. Cypress shingles, a north-south alignment to minimize heat from the sun, separate kitchen buildings, all were part of the pre-air-conditioning life of the 20th century.

So I'll stay comfortable inside, taking my daily walk at dusk, eating watermelon and enjoying the storms when they come through. As you endure your summertime (unless you're down under, in which case, enjoy your winter) stay safe, stay out of excessive heat and humidity, and cool off with a good book. And to help you enjoy your reading even more, The Bride and the Buccaneer is 50% off in ebook at Smashwords through July 31!