Phew, it's hotter elsewhere!

When I awoke this morning, a light quilt over me, a breath of cool breeze fluttering the curtains at the open window, I realized that muttering about the humidity and feeling a little lethargic because I feel a little sticky, is a minor matter. I'm actually enjoying this summer very much.

I've been told that this is the hottest summer in the northern hemisphere since records have been kept. I just read in the NYTimes that this is very true in Russia. Moscow was 100 degrees yesterday, even if far northern Siberia where it can be -90 in the winter it was +90 yesterday -- in the evening, in the shade, something the people there hardly know how to handle. So far this summer some 2000 Russians have drown, mostly, it seems when drunks have gone into rivers and lakes to cool off but couldn't swim. I know that in the near Arctic latitudes mosquitoes are a major summer problem. They must be worse than pestilential this year.

Taking a broad enough view to see what others are dealing with is a sure way to understand one's own good fortune. I'm about to go for my morning walk on the beach, there's a strong breeze, the sun is out and the clouds are puffy cotton ball bits high in the sky. I wish everyone else could enjoy this summer as much as I do.