Mid-summer Maine finally warms up

Today is hot hot hot for Maine. By 8am the outdoor temperature on the east (shaded) side of the house was already 10 degrees warmer than indoors. Of course we do not have air conditioning; our climate rarely requires that amount of cooling. By opening all windows at night, then shutting the house up tight at sun-up, closing windows and shades, hanging extra white sheets in the windowed exterior doors, we trap the night's cool air inside. Coming in from the warm massage shop, the house feels refreshing and cool. 85 degrees was not uncomfortable for doing massage with the fan on, and my client had no complaint. Raven Maven was my sister's self-chosen moniker and I wonder about writing here: what to write, how to keep her memory a part of this blog. After all, I have other blogs for my own stories. The thing that has brought me back today is the discovery of a comment made in November 2010 - a response to an update on Terry's continuing decline and a little about the family situation: Rose's emotional distress, Sas and Alina's upheaval and grief, Ron's stepping up to become the primary caregiver in the absence of Terry's family. I had not seen the comment at the time of its posting. Probably was too busy with so much and just didn't look. Even now I rarely look at my blogs. And what do I miss? The commenter, Althea Hakari, had been a friend of a childhood friend who had found the blog through a facebook post on the mutual friend's wall. She did not know me. She did not know Terry. She had a blog about her own journey with cancer, "Buddha and the big C" which she invited me to read. And so, over two years late, I click her link, find her blog and read a post by a friend explaining that Althea died in September 2012. For almost two years I had the opportunity to reply but had not yet met her, had not seen her post. There is a lovely life-affirming poem on her page, so here is a link. I recommend taking some time to go and read and take it in. http://buddhaandthebigc.blogspot.com/