Beating The Heat

The front yard is brown and crunchy.  My River Birch trees are shedding leaves like it's October.  The temperature at 8AM is only about twenty degrees cooler than it is at 3PM.  Even the weeds that like to invade our "landscaped" areas are about to give up the ghost.  That's JUST how hot it is.  So, what's a Belle to do in order to beat the heat?  (I've never been one to condone or be in the practice of physical violence against another person...but if The Heat were a person, the temptation to beat It within an inch of its life would be TREMENDOUS!!)

Here are some of my personal heat-beating faves...

When you are not the personal owner of a swimming pool, it is a VERY good thing to make friends with those who are!  If you don't know anyone who has a pool, there's always this option...

We've played in the backyard kiddie pool and when you're hot enough, you really don't care!

Popsicles...by the BOXload!  Rocketpops are my personal favorite.  They bring back happy memories from my childhood.  Back when the ice cream wagons were peddled through the 'hoods by cranky, sweaty teenagers...who were probably coerced into summer employment by Parents (notice the capital...those are the one who mean business), determined to turn said cranky, sweaty teenagers into productive member of society!

Sweet tea...

Lemonade...
Cucumber water!  As fast as I can chug it!


Cherry limeade...from a certain drive-in restaurant that my Northern kinfolk just LOVE visiting when they come to these here parts!

 Head to the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Homemade ice cream!  We had some WONDERFUL peach ice cream while we were with my 1L and her family, a couple of weeks ago.  It tasted like everything that is good about summer!

Salads...lots and lots of salads!  The good news is that all of the produce is good and fresh and abundant! 

Bobby pins, hair clips and elastic headbands...sometimes all three are necessary!!!  I've been in this continual and somewhat Purgatorial stage of growing my hair out and it's not long enough to pull back into one of these implements.  To get it completely off my neck/face, it requires all three.  Do come and visit...just please, call before you do...you don't want to see all of that!

Turn the sprinkler on!  You can say that you're watering the lawn!  We used to play in the sprinkler ALL THE TIME when we were kids...I guess it's the poor man's version of a pool!

When all else fails, you can always visualize a snowbank....and then visualize running headlong into it.  Just don't overheat doing all that visualization!