Isn’t it a pleasure to open your windows on a gently warm Spring day and welcome in the breeze?
Where I now live, in central North Carolina, we experience four fully-fledged seasons. Winters are mild, summers are muggy. And, like most, I’m grateful for climate-controlled spaces during the most extreme temperature swings of the year. But, each year, I savor that sweet spot right before the annual explosion of pollen turns the whole landscape yellow. Mild, short-sleeve-worthy days haven’t yet given way to the sweaty, sweltering ones.
After my husband and I wed, the first place we lived was Bavaria in Southern Germany. Residential amenities there take different forms than the ones to which Americans are often accustomed. Buildings tend to be heated via radiant means and private homes with built-in cooling systems are a rarity. Without the forced-air HVAC systems common to American homes, the constantly open windows provide an alternate source for air circulation through indoor spaces. In the village where we rented an apartment, folks opened their windows every day– all year long–even if foul weather permitted only the narrowest of gaps.
In all fairness, Germans generally enjoy a cooler climate than most of us living in the United States, and downsides of open windows there were few. While sluggish black houseflies often found their way through our impeccably engineered German windows, mosquito invasions posted little threat.
Alas, it is impractical to open my North Carolina windows every day, but just as perpetually open Bavarian windows marveled us, I never cease to be amazed by the myriad ways our more local forebears coped with the whims of the weather gods too. I hope to continue to learn from their ingenuity and fortitude in future. I want to deeply ponder the path we’ve taken to arrive at the habits and objects which make up our present lives.
Today, though, I will enjoy our open windows.
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