The first weekend of August was much like nearly every weekend this summer: Torrid, arid, languid. After enduring many days on our heat island under a heat dome, moving from one air-conditioned space to another, we were eager to get away, even if the heat prevented us from pursuing outdoor activities. 

We arrived on Friday in time for “picnic lunch,” taken inside the truck while we waited for the air-conditioner in Cloud 9 to drop the temperature from 102 degrees to something more tolerable. An hour later, we moved ourselves and the dogs inside, the temperature having been lowered by 10 degrees. Dropping the next 10 degrees took four hours more. During that time, we worked remotely (although Jon was officially vacationing), culminating in a proper cocktail hour promptly at 5. Jon also took a couple of calls from representatives of the company providing oxygen equipment to his mom. Date Night dinner included grilled steaks and veggies, a fluffy baked potato, and our favorite Ravenswood wine. As contending with the heat often leaves us drained, we had just enough energy to clean up the dinner dishes and head to bed.

Next morning around 7:00, with temperatures in the mid-80s, we decided to take a walk along the camping loop. Aside from taking the dogs out, that 30-minute walk was our only real activity of the day. We settled in to read The New York Times, enjoy breakfast cocktails, and prepare for brunch. After a long afternoon nap, we enjoyed cocktails, conversation with Jon’s mom, and a marvelous Saturday supper of grilled pork chops, cob corn, and broccoli while watching the Grand Old Opry tribute to Merle Haggard.

For our late-night viewing, we watched Liquor Store Dreams, the debut feature by So Yun Um about immigrant dreams and generational divides. The moving personal film follows So and her friend Danny, both “liquor store babies,” whose Korean parents made the best of limited opportunities by running liquor stores in Black and Brown communities in Los Angeles. The film places these struggles in the larger context of Korean-Black relations in Los Angeles, including the 1991 murder of Latasha Harlins in a Korean convenience store, the 1992 uprisings sparked by the police brutality against Rodney King and ensuing looting of Korean businesses, and growing political organizing. We found it to be a deeply moving, powerfully humanizing portrait of unspoken immigrant pain and struggle.

Sunday found us doing much of the same, except Cliff spent some time exploring Clipchamp, Microsoft’s online video editing tool that allows users to import, edit, and export audiovisual material in an internet browser window. He’s planning to introduce it to his team as a solution for developing training videos. In the meantime, Jon explored his ancestry while the dogs snoozed nearby.

We decided to decamp after brunch, considering the remains of the day would likely be spent indoors anyway. We’ll return again next weekend for more of the same.