Finding calmness in the midst of heat

It's pretty quiet around here just now. We've done a good deal, telling the boys they can't have their scheduled holiday Wednesday "30 minutes screen time" aka "computer games time" unless they exercised for 20 minutes at least (yes, they're only allowed playing games screen time three times a week during holidays, see this post on Unplugged Parenting).

This was the "rash" on my son's leg a day after he
started treatment about three weeks ago. It looks much
better now, but it hasn't faded altogether. The doctor
didn't know what had bitten him, probably an insect,
but he's had quite a reaction to it!

So, they all went out on their bikes and rode round and round a one mile course in the streets around our house. It doesn't bear thinking about, that it is about 34 degrees Celsius and 75% humidity out there. They've all come back safe and sound, and well exercised, our eldest having ridden six miles!

This morning I also had a very quiet and calm morning. I sat in air conditioning and read a book . . . in doctor's waiting rooms. I took our eldest to two doctors, one to check the localised rash on his leg that he got while camping and the other to get his "entering year 9" medical completed. It was a relaxing morning!

Because doctors don't generally use appointments, you just turn up and wait your turn. That can be a pain, but today it was just pleasant as we're trying not to use air conditioning at home because it is very expensive.

The last two nights we slept without air conditioning, it didn't make it below 30 degrees overnight in our room, but somehow we slept. The worst of it is going to sleep, and then, if you wake up, getting back to sleep. 31 degrees at 3am just isn't fun. If it was cooler for longer in July, it is certainly making up for that now, with scorching temperatures and the usual high humidity.

I've found the equivalent of the "wind chill factor" for summer. It is called the "heat index" or, "this is how hot it feels". They combine the air temperature and the humidity to create this and this is the graph I found on Wikipedia:

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index

We're living in the orange zone most of the time at present. Not great! Explains why I'm having trouble with energy and concentration.