Open Windows

The heat of August has finally broken here in Washington. About time too! Finally we’ve returned to open window season. Aaah, this is the best time of year here. Today is clear and sunny with very low humidity. All my windows are thrown open to the air. I’ve always avoided air conditioning as much as I could, mostly because I hate being closed up indoors without any contact with outdoor air. Growing up in upstate New York we didn’t have central air, and didn’t really need it except for a few hot weeks in mid-July. No-one I knew had air conditioning, and we went through the summers running in and out of screen doors and setting up fans in open windows. I tried to carry that lifestyle with me after I moved to Washington, and actually lived my first three years in this town in an apartment without A/C. Still, I eventually broke down under the weight of steady temps over 90 and dewpoints near 80 degrees, and my house is kept closed up tight through most of the summer. I’m not sure I could make it If I had to work at home every day without relief from the sticky heat. But that’s all the more reason why I’m overjoyed when we can go back to living an indoor-outdoor existence. Now Mark and I can exchange offhand comments about “good sleeping weather” and clearly hear the birdsong chatter at my feeders. Last night was cool enough to make my down duvet feel delicious with the windows open, and the morning was just nippy enough to make my cup of hot tea feel extra good running down my throat. Opening the windows at my house has a special thrill for me, beyond just letting in the fresh air. The windows on my house are secretly one of my favorite things about it. They’re steel casement windows, with metal frames painted black. They’re original to the house, which was built in 1948, and make no mistake, they’re rickety, leaky and very inefficient, energy-wise. But they swing out to open on hinges that take them all the way out and flat against the house. There’s nothing so fancy as a crank, you just unlatch the window and push. Whenever I stretch to sweep one out into open space I feel like Snow White. Each and every spring we get a parade of window salesmen stopping to ask if we plan to replace them (because they’re rickety, leaky, etc.). I send them quickly on their way. No! You shall not touch my windows! I think we all miss something, being closed up indoors so much of our lives. We lose touch with the place where we are when we can get away with wearing sweaters indoors in August and have no idea when it last rained. I’m not saying we should do away with air conditioning and climate control altogether, especially in a climate as unforgiving as Washington’s. But I wish more folks would be more conscious of taking opportunities to open up their houses in that yummy season that lies between unbearably hot and uncomfortably cold. Are your windows open today?