A bag of pears sorrowfully waiting for a customer interested in buying not-very-good-looking pears, screaming: pick me! Pick me! You don’t throw out a bag of pears that are great for chocolate cake, do you… The cake was a witness to a great conversation about… AC.
We wanted to bake a cake, because we were about to see a friend who after tending to his duties was supposed to come and visit us. The first thing he noticed was: “there’s a huge difference in temperature in your backyard, under the trees, and your street”. Well, yes. We have trees, shrubs and herbs (an a sunny spot for tomatoes). We’ve never measured the temperature in the backyard as compared to the full sun of the street, but it is a couple of degrees, we think.
“In a study in Valencia, Spain, researchers found that a temperature monitor exposed to direct sunlight warmed to about 104°F in midday sun, while a shaded monitor at the same site registered below 80°F”: more details here
A fascinating part of the conversation with our friend was about the ancient Persian art of building wind catchers, and cooling the cities. An interesting story here. And here: about Madrid.
We’ve been discovering a happy wilderness of a park in Toronto recently. It’s not a total wilderness, there are asphalt trails by Humber River, people having a walk, regular cyclists, and a bunch of crazy cyclist who don’t care. If you want to understand why some people don’t like cyclists on their bikes, you should go and check for yourself. But it’s just a digression. We decided to use paths that are not very popular. Trees. Birds. Chipmunks and some unidentified animal monologues and babble. No asphalt, no people. Total (almost) wilderness in the city. It was a very warm day and yet, under the trees, it was a nice breeze and the sun’s influence wasn’t debilitating at all. Hot. But livable. We walked, and walked, and walked in the labyrinth of paths. Adventure by a hot day in a shade & breeze.
Still, we don’t understand why so many people prefer to use asphalt road in the park rather than a shaded dirt road. There’s something inconsistent between complaining about hot weather and, yet, making choices that make the weather too hot. We enjoy walking on uneven paths. It makes our feet use their abilities to participate in keeping balance. Adventure!
PS: the cake was great!
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