Yesterday was a success. My car has gas, the trash is gone and my larder has been replenished. The dump was hell on Earth. In the winter it is the Russian steppes, but in the summer the sun beats down and the heat mirage ripples across the sand. I was so excited to get home into the cool house.

Today is already hot at 84°, and the humidity makes it worse. We have had sun then clouds then sun again. Right now the clouds are back. Thunder showers are predicted, but I have my doubts. The storms seem to miss the Cape.

When I was a kid, summers stretched out in front of me, seemingly endless. I found something to do every day. I wasn’t ever bored. Even if I was stuck inside by a storm, I was busy reading or playing in the cellar. I never saw the time pass. It just did.

I’ve always liked Roller Coasters. Nothing beats the anticipation and excitement of rolling up that first long hill knowing what was coming. The downhill always took my breath away. When I was a kid, the roller coasters were wooden. I remember the sounds of them on the tracks, the creaking and groaning. We had no seatbelts so we were tossed from one side to the other. From the roads, from a bit away, you could see the highest hills of the coasters at Revere Beach and Nantasket. Going home from my grandparents’ house, I could see just a small peek (peak too) of the very top of the River Beach coaster. My eighth grade trip was to Nantasket. I rode the coaster many times with my friend Jimmy. When I was in high school, we sometimes went to Revere Beach just for the food and the rides, especially the coaster. When I was much older, my mother and I vacationed in Williamsburg and stopped at Busch Gardens on our way home. I rode the looping coaster. I just couldn’t resist. My mother watched. Facing the ground was as scary as anything but sometimes, like this, fear is part of the fun of the ride.

I don’t do well on rides which go in circles, speedy circles, on tracks. I remember one trip to the Barnstable Fair and riding the sort of Tilt o Whirl except the cars were covered. I got off and got sick. As I said, I don’t do well on speedy circle rides. Merry-go-rounds, though, are perfect.