Oh my poor neglected nap!

This is not the actual watermelon I just ate. There is no photographic evidence THAT watermelon ever existed, which is kind of sad, because it was a MIGHTY FINE watermelon. Oh me oh my.

Things I love about summer:
- watermelon
- blueberries
- corn on the cob
- sidewalk cafes
- toes in the river
- fewer TV distractions
- long, long days

Things I do NOT love about summer:
- HEAT!!!

Egad, we're having a heatwave in Portland - today is the hottest June 26th on record. I hate heat. On top of all its others miseries, like drying out the plants and all, it is just TERRIBLE for naps. We have air-conditioning in only one room, the studio, and so on a day like today, over 100 degrees, it is in the studio we must be, and there are not any napping surfaces in the studio. So I had to skip my beloved nap today and power through the drowsy hour between 2 and 3. I am a napper. I find it is the best way for me to get up early, and go to bed late, both of which I like to do. But this heat messes up everything.

But, with the exception of naptime, I would be in the studio anyway, so it's not such a big deal. I worked some more on my Sunday Scribble cliffhanger today. It is growing, and it has a new title: "Spicy Little Curses Such As These." Though one commenter assumed I knew where the story was going, I didn't totally. I couldn't figure out why the old lady laid the curse on the child to begin with. The starting point was Sleeping Beauty and the christening curse, so I suppose she was a Malificent figure, but I'm not so interested in villains without motives. I like to explore really difficult choices. Then, last night as I was falling asleep, the Orpheus myth came into my head and it seemed so perfect, since this story was my response to the "music" prompt. That brought on many more ideas and prompted a morning of googling Hindu belief in Hell, which led to the Katha Upanishad and Hindu near-death stories. (this is very interesting: Hindu near-death accounts differ significantly from Christian ones. While in Christian ones there is the going towards the light and being greeted by family members who tell you to go back, it's not your time, in Hindu versions the patients relate being taken forcibly by these kind of underworld thug-bureaucrats to an authority figure, often with a clipboard, who discovers a mistake has been made and sends the person back.) I love Google.

So, as far as the rest of the story goes, I am not going to post it here, but if you would like to read it, email me and I will email it to you when it's finished. I am having so much fun with it, and I'm sort of inspired by the idea of stories that that combine elements from several fairy tales or myths, as in this case, Sleeping Beauty + Orpheus, throw in some India, and what do you have? I don't have time right now to really explore short stories, though. But from time to time I may indulge.