I’d actually like it not to be so sunny. I’d in fact love to have some clouds. But looking at the sky high above, nowhere are any clouds to be seen. These days have been the hottest days we’ve experienced this summer, with the highest temperature reaching 34 C and the lowest 17 C.

Naturally, what I’ve been doing is staying at home, watering the plants, and trying my best to keep cool with a fan and a tiny air-conditioner.

We went bouldering twice during his July 4th break, but during the second time, he hurt his neck a bit when falling unexpectedly and landing on the mat hard. This new gym’s boulder routes are harder than the ones at our old gym, and he didn’t take enough time to familiarize himself with these harder routes. The mat on the ground was also firmer, resulting in a bigger and less distributed falling impact. Lastly, it was more challenging to downclimb at this gym. After falling, he had mostly been watching me climb, which was certainly not very fun for him. But him hurting himself did not affect me having a great climbing session, lol.

I ordered two harnesses for lead climbing during the holiday. REI had some great deals, so I used my credit card points to exchange a REI gift card. We’ve signed up for the Intro to Rock Climbing class at the new gym toward the end of this month. I can’t wait to climb on the higher walls.

After concluding my short burst of fiction-reading spree, I went back to non-fiction and progressed at my usual slow pace. Right now I’m reading a book about owls. I’ve never seen an owl in the wild, but I’ve heard their hoots plenty of times in winter. I hope to see them in their most natural state one day, the mysterious, shy, yet lovely creatures.

If it were not so hot, I would’ve been doing yoga now. This heat wave has completely altered my daily routine. Yesterday and the day before, I exercised on the deck in the early morning, laying out the biggest yoga mat I have and setting my iPad up on a high stool. I tried to stay in the cool shade of the house as much as possible, for if the sunshine hit me, I’d start sweating instantly. It’s very hard to keep up with my workout schedule at home with the heat blasting, but even so, I don’t intend to exercise at a gym.