September Swelter & Other Updates

Bears, beavers, one desert queen, and ditching Instagram completely!

My uncluttered desk reflects how I feel better and more fit to write.

As September crawls forward, it feels more like July than July did. We aren't used to this kind of heat and constant humidity beyond early August. But the world is changing, as is our little corner of it. After a winter of western storms, we returned home to what felt like a tropical jungle—rain, bugs, sultry, and sticky.

My struggle with the Black Dog has eased, more about this later, but my physical recovery reveals its shortcomings in this kind of weather. My lungs, which had to be drained during my lengthy stay in Maine Med seven years ago, never fully recovered. The doctors merely called it ‘lung disease,’ and in my Pupu Platter of Death, was relatively mild. I feel the aftereffects all these years later when the air is heavy and thick. It's difficult for me to take a full, deep breath when hiking.

Our poor air conditioner is struggling this week, and I can tell by the way I've seen Samwise and Emily panting while…