Tuesday 17 August 2021

Naturally contrary

At bedtime, every night, summer or winter, I make myself a hot water bottle for my bed and a glass of chilled water with several ice cubes in it.

I find the warmth of the hot water bottle sort of comforting, like an animal, and the chilled water makes me feel peaceful and rested.

And I love the night air. I close my window at night when it's really freezing in the winter, but only then. All the rest of the year I have it open all the time. I close my shutters so mosquitoes don't come in and bite me (semi-successful), but I sleep right under the window so I can still sniff the night air.

Sometimes when the night is warm, I fold back the duvet because I get hot, and I tuck the hot water bottle under the most insulated place where it's not in contact with me, so it can't make me even hotter but I can stretch my foot out and touch it if I need to remember it's there.


4 comments:

Suzan said...

Pen your words have made me smile. I rarely seek heat even in our winter. It is rare for nights to fall below 6 or 7. Even nights like that are rare. I love to feel the air on me and mum and I have air conditioner wars. She runs the darn thing at summer temperatures during winter. Then in summer she will have it so cold she is wrapping scarves and shawls around herself. I like the windows to be open in winter and mum closes them all. Then in summer I will put out a fan and put the cooling on and mum turns it off.
August is one of our coolest months and I am sleeping without covers. Just part of the constant craziness that is life around here. We have screens on every window and door to try and keep flies and mozzies out. I don't want any nasty tropical diseases.

God bless.

Pen Wilcock said...

What about clothes? Are you a cover-up or a light-and-loose person? I never, ever wear short sleeves (except under a cardigan, and even 3/4 sleeves feel too short. I prefer layers to just one top. I am okay with dresses but *only* if they are really loose, with a petticoat or vest underneath.
You're a skirt person, aren't you? Not trousers.

Suzan said...

Skirts and dresses for me. Yes, they are loose. I prefer short sleeves. A working life of scrubbing hands and forearms have made that a must. Besides, it is so very hot here most of the time long sleeves would and do stifle me. I was once on a cruise that went around the bottom of New Zealand and it was a cool and breezy night and I went for a walk. A number of people commented that my attire made them feel cold.

As a little aside I am watching the news. The sound is off and I am reading the subtitles. There was a story about the terrible state of affairs in Afghanistan. The report read the Federal Hoverment and I saw, in my little brain, long tubes reaching down from an airplane and sucking people up to safety. I have heard some truly horrible stories but one showed compassion. A lady was trying to reach a help point. A reporter spoke with her. She told a sad story. Her husband had joined the Taliban. He had begun to beat her. She had her children with her and nothing else. The reporter intervened and the lady and her children were evacuated.

God help us all.

Pen Wilcock said...

Thank God for that reporter and may they be blessed. I am so glad the lady ran away and did not accept the violence. God watched over her indeed. May the Taliban be transformed or removed. God bless and heal Afghanistan. My heart breaks for those people.