Swaddled for the summer

It's the time of year when we break out the bar-b-que, ice the margarita glasses and decide by sniff-test if we'll use the coconut suntan oil or the more sensible 100+ SPF paint we picked up by the bucketful for the five kids. It also means my husband wraps the crazy amount of windows in our house in every sheet, blanket and heat-blocking material he can find to save on our air conditioning bill. Virginia can be brutal between the sun and the humidity.

While practical, it's hard to get excited about becoming a mole for three months and missing the delicate shades of blue at twilight because the best window is covered by SpongeBob sheets. No amount of fooling myself that it's softly raining outside (thus the darkness) or that this benefits my moody side works. The rest of the year is lovely and we wouldn't miss the light that comes in from our bare windows so we don't invest in shades or curtains. The Shenandoah Valley lay below, visible only in the winter and its river winds through the cracks between the trees that separate us. Can't miss that because of a little blazing heat in the summer, eh?

So why am I fussing now? A lovely reporter from the Winchester Star will be coming with a photographer on Friday, as well as guests Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will be in the high 90s -- we'd fry like crawdads in a skillet.