beat the heat: a survival guide to living with no AC

Do you want to hear something crazy?

Well, hear this:

We have been living an air conditioned-free lifestyle this summer.

Did ya hear that right?

There is no AC up in here.

Crazy, I told you.

With today’s temperature rising to the high 90’s (which has been quite typical this whole summer) I sometimes wonder to myself if we’ve made some kind of mistake. But you know what? The more I think about it, the more I realize it’s been just fine.

YES there are times I’m so hot I want to cry (today might be one of them), but honestly for the most part, survival is easy.

This is how I do it:

1. Sit as still as possible when you are home. Moving around just makes you sweat and sweating is no fun.

2. Sit in front of a fan at all times. I am sitting in front of a fan right now as I type this and I am cool as a cucumber. Well, maybe not that cool, but I’m comfortable.

3. Keep a lot of goodies in the fridge and freezer. You know, cold drinks, delicious fruit, ice pops, and my personal favorite: cold York Peppermint Patties. OH, yum. Minty and refreshing. Those’ll cool ya down in a jiffy.

4. The occasional cold shower is good for the soul. And your rising body temperature.

5. A cool washcloth can help if things get really sticky.

6. No shoes, no shirt, no problems. Really, though, it works. And it feels darn good, too.

I’d been living with an air conditioner for the past 6 years, and I have to say it’s a luxury, and a dreamy one at that, but definitely something I can live without. I never had it as a kid, and Zan didn’t have AC growing up either, so I guess we’ve been trained to withstand the heat. Plus, we wanted to save on some electricity bills. We’ve got a really good fan, and will-power, too. And you all know how I feel about summer. I almost want to go as far as to say I rejoice in the heat. Give me hot temperatures over bitter cold New England winters any day and I will do a happy dance.

Do you have AC? Do you think you could live without it?

And if you don’t, got any more tips for us for keeping cool?

the story of Zan the lobsterman.

Did you know I could happily live on lobster every day for the rest of my life?

DID you know that Zan is a lobsterman?

I hope you’re taking notes. These are things that are important.

In actuality, I’m not sure I could eat lobster every day for the rest of my life. I would miss things like cheese and chocolate. But if lobster’s on the menu, you’d better believe I’ll be eating it.

And also, Zan is not really a lobsterman. Not one that wears those rubbery orange pants and pulls traps out of the sea, anyways. We do eat a LOT of lobster every summer, thanks to Zan and his brother, though. And that’s just the honest to goodness truth. Here’s how it works:

Love that guy. For reals.

Ever since I’ve known Zan he’s been pulling lobsters out of the sea. It’s one of his summer hobbies and a pretty cool one, at that. He loves it, lives for it, and is good at it. You see, Zan is a lobster diver. This means he dives down into the ocean to look for those little crustaceans, and pulls them out of the water with his hands. His bare hands! He’s been perfecting this skill since he was a kid. Both him and his brother Clark are fanatics for lobster diving. Clark maybe even more so. That guy is straight up addicted to the ocean. Zan’s father used to take him and his brother out to snorkle dive every summer. He taught them how to look for lobsters, too, and at a certain point, the boys started going up to the ocean to dive by themselves.

They each have a Recreational Lobster Permit, which allows them to take lobsters out of the ocean in Massachusetts, so long as they’re the right size (not too big and not too little) and aren’t egg-bearing females. They purely do it for fun and for themselves, and have no plans to ever sell the lobsters they catch.

It’s pretty cool to watch them dive. I often like to tag along with them when they go. I take my book and relax on the beach, with dreams of lobster feasts in the near future. YUMMM-Y.

When they’re looking for lobsters, they’ve always got to go diving at low tide. Zan brings his snorkle gear, a wet suit, a scuba bag (to put the lobsters in while he’s diving), and a cooler (to store the lobster in after he’s caught them). They line the cooler with ice and a bunch of seaweed to keep the lobsters fresh until their ready to be cooked.

After years of practice, both Zan and Clark have got their favorite spots for diving. Or really, I should say, they know where the lobsters like to hang.

Mostly they can dive whenever the tide is low, but sometimes when that’s in the middle of the day it’s hard. Especially if there’s a lot of people on the beach that day. Most often they go really early, or later in the evening when the crowds have died down. I love going up to the beach with them when the tide’s low in the early morning. It’s so quiet and peaceful being awake before the rest of the world.

They usually dive for about an hour or so, moving along the rocky shore, checking under rocks and between crevices, trying to find where the lobsters all hide. It’s not easy, and sometimes their hands get scraped and clawed, but coming back with dinner is always worth it.

Some days they don’t catch any lobsters. Some days they only catch a few. But this summer? Well, the picking is good, I’d say. In the past 2 weeks we’ve had lobster feasts 3 times! And so many lobsters have been caught that friends and family far and wide need to be called over to help with the eating.

(It’s not hard to find people to help with that sort of project.)

People like me, for instance.

Because I’ll crack a lobster open and soak the meat in a dish of butter any day. (Don’t mind if I do!)

Pretty cool, right?

I feel super lucky to call this guy mine. He’s a keeper, that’s for sure. And I think I’ve made quite the catch.

life’s a beach. and lobster is delicious.

Well, these pictures just scream summer, wouldn’t you say?

It was my very first day at the beach and it was heavenly to say the least. I can’t believe I waited until the first day of July to go, but it’s not as though I wasn’t doing other equally important things. Places to go! People to see! That’s going to be my motto all summer long.

Good Harbor Beach up in Gloucester on the North Shore is a beach that Zan has been going to ever since he was a kid. And now, it has become my favorite beach as well. The sand is super light and soft and the beach stretches long and wide. Yesterday we went up in the afternoon, around 3, which was nice because the sun wasn’t too scorching (although in general, this weekend was H.O.T.) and the crowds were starting to fade. We stopped at Five Guys on the way up and then I spent the rest of the time with my toes buried in the sand and nose in my book.

The night ended with lobsters and mussels, which I happily drenched in loads of butter.

You only live once, people.

You only live ONCE.

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From my experience, all of the North Shore beaches are wonderful. And they’re easy to get to, too! You can drive (about 45 minutes from Boston) or easily take the Commuter Rail up to many of the beaches along the North Shore of Massachusetts.

Below is a list of beaches I have been to in the North Shore, and I can attest that they are all terrific:

Beaches in Gloucester

Good Harbor Beach — good long stretch of white sand and there’s an island that you can walk out to on a sand bar at low tide. A personal favorite.

Wingaersheek Beach — soft sand and an area of very large rocks where puddles of water form that’s perfect for little kids. A beautiful spot.

Manchester By The Sea

Singing Beach — my friend just recently told me that the sand “sings” when you shuffle your feet across it, and it’s true, I tried it!

Newburyport

Plum Island — a quiet beach on the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, nice if you don’t want to deal with the crowds.

Ipswich

Crane’s Beach — gorgeous! Just totally and completely gorgeous.

Do you have a favorite beach that you like to go to around Boston? If so, let me know! I’d love to hear about your favorite spots.

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P.S. All of these images were filtered with a new iPhone camera app I just purchased, VSCO cam. I’m loving it, and maybe you will too. Click here for more details or type in VSCO cam at the app store.

on top of the world.

24. A weekend in NH at the Farmhouse/ Hike Mt. Lafayette in the White Mountains

The first day of our trip up to New Hampshire we planned to hike the Franconia Ridge. We started at the falling waters trail, which brings you by a few beautiful waterfalls, and then we treked up what Zan’s brother likes to call “The Devils Staircase”, up to the first of three mountains, Little Haystack. From there we walked along the mountains edge to Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Lafayette. The ridge is known to have crazy weather in the summertime, and this day proved to be no different. We went from sunshine, to clouds and fog, to thunder and rain all in a matter of hours. For the majority of the time we were above tree line we had beautiful puffy-cloud skies, but right as we neared the top of the last mountain, the clouds were so thick you could hardly see a foot in front of you. And just as we began to head down… the rain started to fall.

Nevertheless, the day was a triumph.

Here are the pictures I took (before the weather took a turn for the worst!):

9 hours!

That’s how long the hike took from start to finish!

And truth be told I wanted to give up for approximately 75% of it. Maybe more because some of those uphill climbs were KILLER. But when we finally reached the summit? And I felt like I was on top of the world?

Well in that moment, it was all worth it.

All I could do was stretch my arms and think to myself, This. is. awesome.

And really, it was.