A landscape by Gauguin.

I love the Gaugin-like colors of summer. A couple of weeks ago the scene was as idyllic and golden-green as I’ve ever seen it.  Then the temperature climbed.

Gosh, it’s hot!  It has been in the nineties for almost a week.  But life goes on, and I still bicycle for transportation.

You don’t need to dress up on a bicycle:  shorts and a t-shirt will do. My face is lined and craggy and no nips and tucks will happen so I do automatically put on light makeup before I go out.

And then…

Like the Wicked Witch of the West,  I was melting in the heat. “I’M MELTING, MELTING.”  Well, she melted in water, and I melted in makeup.

As the makeup melted, it produced a strange powdery effect.  I could SMELL the powder.  Ugh. I didn’t feel dehydrated, but I stopped and drank half a bottle of water.

Then I went into the store.  The air conditioning felt good.  But as I was handing over my credit card, sweat broke out on my hands and arms. This is the second time this has happened when I go from the outdoors into air conditioning.  SO EMBARRASSING.

And what’s with that anyway?  Is it a sign of dehydration?  I drank a glass of water before I left home.  How many glasses of water do we have to drink when it’s 92 degrees?  And why does this happen when I go from the heat into air conditioning?

Well, I’m home, and no more sweating issues.

A GIVEAWAY OF THE FOLIO SOCIETY EDITION OF ANNA KARENINA.

Last year I bought a used edition of the 2012 Folio Society edition of Anna Karenina (the Maude translation).  The book is very beautiful, and I love the illustrations, but it is simply too big to read lying down.   I prefer a paperback!

The giveaway of this beautiful book is open to Americans or Canadians.  (Alas, the postage is too high to send it farther.)  Leave a comment or email me (mirabiledictu.org@gmail.com) with a sentence or two about why you want it.  There is never a lot of competition here!  And if you want to help with the postage, I’ll accept it, but even that is not necessary.  You’re doing me a favor because this takes up the space of at least two books.

Here’s the Folio Society description:

Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude
Quarter-bound in buckram with cloth sides blocked and printed with a design by Angela Barrett
Set in Ehrhardt with Bulmer display
Frontispiece and 14 full-page colour illustrations
768 pages
Book size: 9½” × 6¼”

Here is an illustration: