Beating the heat (sort of)

Leigha Ionescu

— 3 min read
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Beating the heat (sort of)

Anyone who watched the news last week is no doubt aware that Europe boiled under a heat wave. Even here in Viștea de jos the temperature reached 94 F/34 C. Fortunately, being so close to the mountains, the nights were cool (60 F/16 C) so we didn't suffer as badly as many did. (I think everyone will agree that you can endure the days if you can at least sleep comfortably at night)
We were productive early in the day but by mid-morning our activities were limited to whatever wouldn't make us sweat which bascially narrowed it down to reading. While that's my idea of the perfect way to spend a week, Mihai is a restless soul and after day 3 he was coming up with places to go and things to do as if Romania wasn't melting.
So away we went to Vaideeni, to visit our dear friends Vali and Simona.
Old Zike-Bike readers will be familiar with Vali and Simona and their house in the mountains, it's one of the places we used to frequent in order to escape the heat of Obedin. Since we now have our own cool house to sleep in, we didn't stay overnight, instead we spent a lovely afternoon catching up while drinking wine and eating. It's always a pleasure to hang out with them.

Their house at Vaideeni brings back so many memories
I've always loved their little orchard of fruit trees


On Sunday afternoon one of our neighbors invited us to an artist's symposium she was hosting in Vișteașoara. While I'm always down for anything art related, Mihai is not. At least he didn't used to be. It seems the Mihai who lives in Romania is a different Mihai from the one who lived in Santa Cruz. This Mihai socialized, he chatted people up, he even said yes when another guest invited us to her house for coffee and dessert. If I believed in aliens, I might believe he's been possessed by one.

One of the guest speakers was a writer so you know I had an extra interest in attending
Some of the artists discussing their work
Afterward there was a very nice buffet but I forgot to get a photo before it was decimated by hungry guests
It was lovely (but still really hot) under the trees. This was about 8:30 pm as the event was winding down and we were leaving. The sun sets late here


Then, on the first day of Mihai's retirement, a storm moved in and finally broke the heat. To celebrate both events, we drank Aperol spritz and watched the lightening and listened to the thunder.


The heat was a bit much for me but obviously it was what the wildflowers were waiting for because the next day we suddenly got this.

Wherever you are, even if the heat is terrible, I hope that you can spend some time with loved ones and take a moment to fill your soul with some art. And I hope that the flowers are blooming.
Thank you for reading.
Be well.

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