Almost at the midpoint of the year

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost July – summer solstice has come and gone and we’re, again, on the downside of our trip around the sun. The weather in my neck of the woods – the Pacific Northwest – has been unbearably hot for the last couple of days. We were experiencing something called a “heat dome” which left Portland with the distinction of having a high temperature that is the highest of any major US city with the exception of Phoenix and Las Vegas.

This is pretty crazy for a place that is known for rain and mist and lush green spaces. Today is much better – although it’s still hot for June. We’re looking at a high of 93 degrees. To put that into perspective, yesterday the high was 115 degrees.

The last 15 months or so has brought with it one extreme event after another – first the pandemic, then historic wildfires that forced tens of thousands of people, including me, to evacuate their homes in suburban Portland for three days, then a once in a century ice storm that knocked out power for five days and brought the region to a standstill, and now this historic and overwhelming heat wave that shattered all of the past records by almost 10 degrees.

I think that this explains, at least in part, why I have been so adverse to the idea of just sitting down and writing a blog post. I’m not really in a reading slump, although nothing is appealing to me very strongly. I feel like I’m just going through the motions as a reader, not really engaging with any of the books.

I’m already 80 books into the year, and I haven’t written a single post. I’m tracking them on Goodreads, but that’s it. I feel like I’ve run out of things to say about the activity that has brought me more solace and pleasure over the years than just about any other. But this doesn’t make sense to me, so I’m going to try something different.

I know I can’t force it, but I am going to make time for blogging about books. I may or may not end up actually publishing the posts that I write, but I’m going to write them. I’m going to talk about what I’m reading, here or on Goodreads, more intentionally and thoughtfully. Because I think that will remind of me what I love about reading and how much it adds to my life and my perspective.

8 comments

    1. It has been miserable, but books are a refuge as always. I really hate the heat – I much prefer the cold, although not having power for days on end during the ice storm was no picnic. We have a generator, though, so I was able to keep the lights on and the kindle charged!

  1. You live in Portland? I live in Yacolt, WA, about an hour north of you! That was brutal, wasn’t it? Our air conditioning went out on Monday afternoon. It was hotter for you than us, since we are up at 1000 feet. Monday got up to 110.

    1. It was just awful. We don’t have air conditioning, but we do have a few window units that managed to keep a couple of rooms cool. Being a Northwestern for the last 33 years, I am not a fan of the heat. I love our cool, misty, rainy climate. At least we’re back to normal now!

      1. We moved here from Austin, TX, to get away from the heat. Our house was 90 degrees inside on Monday! Our AC will be out until at least the 14th, but at least the forecast for up here isn’t brutally hot.

        1. I’m pretty sure that the upstairs hallway topped triple digits. Our kitchen was 95. The air conditioned rooms, on the other hand, hovered around 72, and were very comfortable, lol!

          1. Yeah, I know what you’re saying. We went down into the basement. I don’t know what the temperature was, but it was nice and cool. The bedroom was a bit stuffy when we went to bed, but we just pointed fans at ourselves.

  2. You summed up my reading year perfectly. I’ve posted, but it’s been a struggle and too sporadic, but I’ve yet to find that joy again. Fingers crossed we both get there.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.