Discarding is as good as weeding

At this time of year, when dispositions are not at their most even for people dwelling in habitations that enjoy no air-conditioning, an excellent way to deal with anger is to dispose of excess articles of clothing or to go out in the yard and pull up some of those loquat seedlings now appearing everywhere in the wake of the summer rains. I'll never forget this comment: "I know how you feel, because we hardly ever turn on our air-conditioning, only when it's 90 degrees or above." That person, in other words, uses air-conditioning pretty much every day from sometime in late May until well into October or thereabouts. By the way, weeding frees the mind to think; so does sweeping the floor. Choosing what to throw away, though, involves decisions. The friend who has a tiny closet (or "clothespress," as I grew up calling it) never acquires any garment without pitching one away and never owns more than will fit behind that door. This is excellent practice for those of us living in houses built before there was more than one clothespress, if that, and in houses with closets not deep enough to hold an unangled coat hanger, containing just a row or two of hooks.