Have I mentioned how hot it is?

It's hot.

Really hot.

It's been so hot that I haven't worn a sweater at night for well over a month. That's weird for LA. It's supposed to cool down here at night. But not this year.

We didn't do a thing all day except argue a little and hang out in the bedroom where we have an air conditioner.

I grew up in Florida where the thermometers on the banks all had three digits because the temperatures regularly got into the 100s, and this seems hotter.

For one thing, we live in a box. The two-story living room is actually kind of charming, especially with the fireplace at one end. But all the windows along the other end act like a greenhouse.

There's not a lot of cross-ventilation because while we can open windows, Seymore the kitten likes to think he's an outside cat--which he's not. Every chance he gets, he dashes outside. He's learned how to use the doggy door, so we close that off.

It's become important because Sam disappeared in October. Sam was a beautiful, sweet cat who liked to go outside but always came when she was called. Except the one time.

Scooter climbed the tree back in the back, whining that she'd gone over the wall, but no matter how many times I looked I never found her.

Before Sam disappeared, Tilly got hit by a car. That's the one that really broke my heart. Tilly was such a happy cat, whether she was lazing on the chair or hunting birds.

That cement shrine, the one with the mosaic? That's the memorial to Tilly.

We had her cremated, which in this heat, we could have done just by leaving her out on the counter.