Want to know what it feels like to live in Arizona during the summer? Here's how. Go to your oven and turn it to 475 degrees fahrenheit. Wait about 20 minutes. Now open the oven door, stick your head in and take in one deep breath. That, my friends, is how it feels to live in Arizona in the summer. Instead of 'sauna' heat that the east coast experiences, we get what is fondly called a 'dry heat'. This basically means that instead of stewing in our own juices we shrivel up like pieces of meat that slowly becomes jerky. In fact, you walk around here and see some of the old-timers and you'll be convinced that their skin has been jerky-rized.
So, why on Earth would someone living in this rotisserie oven ever want to knit? Well, even in the middle of a desert a cactus can still get the chills. Though its home to the fifth largest growing city in the US, Arizona is still a desert and just like any true desert we get the cold frosty nights and the desert monsoons.
But besides the occasional cool weather, there is another reason we desert rats pick up needles and hooks. We enjoy any activity that doesn't require us to leave our air-conditioned homes. As the temperatures go up, we start going inside. Like our neighbors on the east coast do in the winter, we bunker down for the long hot days ahead. To avoid getting cabin fever, we've taken a cue from the early settlers here and we get crafty. Spinning, weaving, knitting, crochet and quilting. If it can be done indoors, we Arizonians are experts at it.
While the tempureture is 115 degrees outside, we're happy to say that all is cozy and cool as we knit our woolen mittens, wishing blissfully for a freak snow storm to pass our way.
I suppose this would e called wishful knitting!! And I'll say it makes sense. I spent a few days in June in New Mexico. I loved the heat, but I will say it's probably because it's so different than the east coast heat I'm used to. Now that I'm in Kansas, I hope we get more of the dry heat here, than the humidity. I'll admit to that.
ReplyDeleteWalking from your house to the car and then from the car into an airconditioned building must be a shock to your system! How do you cope?
ReplyDeleteI always have a sweater with me so I don't freeze inside the overly air conditioned buildings. And I make sure to go outside to 'defrost' every now and then. Here is Arizona you can actually catch a chill walking around the mall, that's how high their blasting the air. And no matter what you do its still a shock to the system, but after one summer here your body does adjust.
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