Early Summer in Tucson. It’s Hot
Many colleagues and friends take to staying indoors or escaping to cooler climates- think Northern states or New England or even a drive “up the mountain” where temps are 20 ° cooler than here on the “way East side” of Tucson. 
When Tucson temps hit 100° or more, it’s hot. It’s dry. Leaves on the mesquites look a bit shriveled. Grasses dry out. Afternoon winds bring a prediction of the humidity and thunderstorms of the Southwest monsoons that have not yet arrived.
When It’s Too Hot Outside
This June my early morning wake-ups hold a sense of excitement, almost urgency. Water “Olympics” in our spool energize me. Then I’m ready to do indoor things. Today it’s posting this, and designing and creating July cards to celebrate accomplishments of people I love.
Creativity + Caring
Whether age, coupleship, graduation, or thinking of you, sending a real put-a-stamp-on-it-and-drop-it-in-the-mail card makes me happy. I like to think the recipient will be glad to find “real” mail in amongst the Urgent! Open This Now! ads to buy/sell your house (or your ugly house as some entrepreneur wants me to do), plan your retirement, plan “What to do after I’m gone,” or donate $, furniture, or clothing.
I’ll stick with the cards. The personal cards usually contain a photo culled from my 30,000 jpgs saved over decades. Since my stroke in 2021 I’ve been making cards as a comfort activity. A. gets a birthday greeting with a photo of her at age 2. My friends get a wedding photo from 30 years ago. 90% of the cards have slightly crooked corners or slanted borders courtesy of my brain cells reminding me things are not entirely “back to normal.” Others … well, I trust the sentiment shines through. I do think some cards are quite beautiful. They are all made with affection and sometimes lots of glitter.
Last week a tease of an evening monsoon kept us inside. The sky darkened, thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning flashes split the sky in jagged lines. Raindrops pinged against the windows of my office. Curtains of rain dropped from clouds toward the west. The air was sticky with humidity as two storms drifted in, thankfully dropping rain that doused the two lightning strikes that ignited dry areas in the Catalinas and Rincons.
Latest Read From the Book Stack: Solo Passage
The rain signaled a retreat. Head for the reading chair with a cool glass of apple juice. My ever-growing stack of books to read included Solo Passage: 13 Quests 13 Questions by Glenda Goodrich. The book came to my SoulCollage group courtesy of Kate DeVillers, a SoulCollage artist who visited Tucson to escape the Northwest winter (thank you, Kate). 13 quests take the author (and me, vicariously) out for 4-day quests – alone, no food, lots of water, hiking in nature, tenting, meditating, and journaling in search of personal healing and deeper self-understanding. Ms.Goodrich’s writing is visual, personal, and poetic at times. The insights shared and memoiric content remind and inspire me it’s time to put on my hiking shoes and go up our mountains with a journal for time in nature. But I will have to take a picnic.
What makes you happy in summer?
Ethel Lee-Miller blogs regularly about people, the power of words, and her writing life. She retired after 30 years of teaching, and semi-retired from coaching, and professional editing. Founder of the Eastside Tucson Writing Room based in Tucson AZ, she’s posted 100s of blogs, and is the author of Thinking of Miller Place, and Seedlings, Stories of Relationships. These days she writes to inspire, to connect with folks, teaching about the power of words, gather writers together, and for the pure enjoyment of it. Ethel enjoys teaching, speaking, and storytelling at Odyssey Storytelling, Artists Standing Strong Together, Tucson Tellers of Tales, Center for Spiritual Living Tucson, New Story Pod, and anywhere there’s a mic or a Zoom room.