The days keep getting hotter and hotter, the intensity of this heat is crippling. I feel like I’ve had to be so isolated for so long because of the pandemic, and know I’m living in the dark because of the extreme heat. My house gets the direct blistering sun from about 11 am, until the sun goes down at around 9 or just after. So I am usually watering from about 430 am until about 7, I can leave the blinds open until about 10, then into the dark I go until sunset. At which time it is still too hot tonight at 930 pm it’s still 43 Celsius at my place it won’t cool down tonight much. It feels like you can’t breathe, the air conditioning is no good for my lungs, but I have to use it, the heat is no good for my dementia, it creates stress on my system which creates inflammation, then the fatigue and brain fog. We have at least another week of high temperatures with lighting expected Thursday. There is already so many fires burning, we are not in a good predicament at this point. So many heat related deaths the numbers are hard to take in. For me I’ve been trying to just focus on each day I’m in, I worry more about getting my little dog Pheobe through this, at 17, this is really hard on her, so she is a big focus, I’m grateful to have her. I don’t cook, everything I eat is cold plate, I don’t want to generate any more heat than there already is.
I know a lot of people don’t believe in climate change but at 62 years old, I am very aware of how much change has happened and it scares me to think if we keep going we may have no chance to fix things, we will be the cause of our own demise. Maybe I could say, it doesn’t matter because I live with a progressive, terminal illness, but it still matters, it still matters because of all those I care about, because of all the animals, and plants, and because I just don’t know how not to care. I love the rivers, streams, oceans and lakes, I love the forest and the countrysides, I love how different and vast it all is.
I wish everyone would tear up there lawns and plant bushes and shrubs, and we need to plant more trees, all the things that help the earth, get rid of all the concrete and go back to dirt roads, half the logging roads are nicer to drive on than the highways, it would do multiple things, slow people down, cool the earth down, encourage people in populated areas to use transit more. Making adjustments and some concessions instead of expecting “ somebody to do something”, as long as it’s not us, could go a long way to helping fix this disaster we have created. Everyone is of course entitled to their own opinions, and I know we can justify why we can’t do this or that, most of those justifications if looked at closely end up being self serving and nothing more.
checking to see if the sun had slipped behind the mountain, so I could open my blinds, and get the remaining daylight in. I’ve been trying desperately to save my plants, I’m losing the battle, it brought me to tears tonight. It’s 5 am, its close to 30 degrees out, the sun is just coming up, today will be the worst I think heat wise. So now and I’m watering again, and I see I have lost more plants, I guess the heat and not even cooling at night is just too much for them. I will continue to try to save what I can. Mother nature is giving us all so many wake up calls. I wonder are we really listening?
I’m glad I’ve only had minimal things I’ve been signed onto over this last stretch, my brain power would not have been able to manage a full slate of things to attend or participate in. It’s been a tough week or two, health challenges, created or worsened by the environmental effects we are living with. I will manage through it and be fine, but I won’t deny how difficult this has been and coming into what would be the hottest months of the year, it scares me to think about what’s yet to come.
Its a good thing I am adaptable, one of the blessing of dementia, adapting to the changes constantly happening within my brain and body, and to the environmental things around me.
Chrissy's Journey 