20 + 1 = 21

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. For those of you following my little reducing saga, you'll remember that two weeks ago I had to stop taking the diuretic I'd taken for the last couple years to help control my blood pressure. After losing 20 lbs., my blood pressure had dropped so low that I needed to begin stepping down on the meds, and the diuretic was the first to go. Within four days, I gained 4 lbs. in water weight. During the last 10 days, I've worked my patooty off and managed to lose not only 4 lbs. to compensate for the water weight but 1 more lb. to boot. And all the time I've continued drinking 64 oz. of water per day - the same amount of water I was drinking while I was taking the diuretic and the same amount I drank everyday last week --- so I'm feeling pretty confident that what I've lost this last week has been genuine poundage. At any rate, I weighed in at 173 this morning. We're back on the move, dear readers!

The red Mexican bird of paradise is now in bloom which means our long-winded desert summer is about halfway over --- it also means, unfortunately, that my little apartment is starting to smell very stuffy. I've tried to keep things sealed up in here since it became blazing hot in June. The windows are never opened and the door opened just long enough for me to exit or enter. I'm not sure what the cure for this midsummer stuffiness might be. Is there some secret none of the natives have filled me in on yet? It's too hot even in the middle of the night to crack the windows. Ah well, I guess I can endure the stuffiness for a couple more months.

The Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) has some wonderful suggestions for those seeking to cool their homes - in looks and in temperature - during summers in a pre-air conditioning world. Maybe these'll come in handy for you lucky dames living in a more temperate climate! It's fascinating to me how much more amenable people once seemed to adapting their decor to the season instead of fighting Mother Nature tooth and nail to keep things looking the same year-round. It was almost expected - either when you did your spring cleaning or about the time you put up your window screens - that you would switch out the furnishings, linens, and draperies throughout your home for the summer ahead.

The first few are very practical tips for cooling your home and circulating air:

• Closed windows and drawn blinds throughout the day will prevent sunshine and warm air from penetrating the house, as southerners learned long ago. Wait until the sun has left the horizon before opening windows and raising blinds to welcome any cool air the evening may bring. Opening upstairs windows and keeping the lower ones closed will permit the warm air, which has risen to escape.

• Electric fans put in action in strategic points throughout the house will keep the air in circulation... In front of the fan or fans, place a tray filled with chunks of ice - they will cool the air which is circulated by the fans.

• Evenings will be somewhat cooler if candles are substituted for electric lights.

• Sofas and chairs, which in the winter faced a cheerful fireside, should now be directly or obliquely in the path of any breeze the windows or doors may lure into the room.

These next two have the comfort of the housewife in mind:

• With an eye to relief from the burden of cleaning tasks, many housewives use a blanket cover instead of the traditional bedspread. A dressing table which has good lines can be left unskirted during the warm months.

• Summer is no time for laundering fine damask, babying fine crystal or polishing prized silverware. During the warm season, use only the simplest, most informal luncheon cloths and place mats.

This last series is all about "cooling" your decor:

• Bright slipcovers [examples: white with green ivy print or a floral print in blue, white and a bit of wine] rank high in importance among summer transformations. Not only do they play a part in cooling off the color scheme but they protect upholstery fabrics from the harm to which dust and sunshine streaming through summer-open windows expose them.

• Large rugs - Oriental, velvet broadloom, wool piles, etc. - deserve a professional cleaning annually and it is practical to send them out for cleaning and storage when the warm days arrive. Living room, dining room or bedroom floors left bare by their departure will look much cooler and will have a chance to display their own hardwood beauty.

• Use sheer white fabrics to make cool, filmy summer curtains to replace warm winter draperies.

• In place of the usual kindling wood and logs, pile laurel or pine branches across the andirons and in the woodbasket. For a more dramatic change, store the andirons, etc., and set a big potted plant or basket of greens in their place.

• Wooden bowls... are nice for serving rolls, fruits and vegetables, as well as salads.
  
  
• This is the time to use vegetable-shaped soup bowls, leaf-shaped serving dishes. Hunt out amusing salt and pepper shakers and relish dishes of all kinds. Have pottery vivid in hue - in one solid tone or colors which combine.