It has been very, very HOT lately. Yesterday we spent a very hot Sunday afternoon. How did we stay cool? Here was our five pronged strategy:

1. SMOOTHIES! Our daughter, MG, made us some smoothies – very delicious! The recipe appears below. Both the girls liked them “better than jamba juice.”

MG’s Smoothie

3 Tablespoons simple syrup*, 2 Tablespoons Orange Juice concentrate, 5-7 frozen strawberries, 1 banana, 1 cup milk, 5-7 ice cubes

Put all ingredients into a blender, cover and blend til smooth. Makes 2 cups. Yum!

*simple syrup is made with equal parts sugar and water. Heat and stir til sugar is completely dissolved. Cover and refrigerate – keeps one week.

2. WATER FIGHT! Daddy and the girls, MG and PX, donned swimming goggles, commandeered both front yard and back yard hoses AND the kitchen sink; and the battle was on for close to an hour; what a fun and refreshing way to cool off!

3. FANS AND LEMONADE! We lived in front of our fans all afternoon. And dinnertime was accompanied by two fans and cold lemonade.

4. LIVING DOWN UNDER! Under the fans, that is – after dinner we stayed at the dining table under the cooling influence of our fans. My husband has been reading aloud to us – a biography of Ida Scudder. While he is reading, each of us keep our hands busy. MG is copying portions of verse from the works of JRR Tolkien. She is experimenting with calligraphic lettering sytles and with illustrations. PX likes to build with legos and other available objects (dominoes), creating structures and/or patterns to her liking. I love doodling, but last night I worked on a landscaping plan for our front yard; my husband liked it!

5. PORCH LIVING! After the sun went down, we all migrated to our outdoor living space: our front porch. I set up a small barber shop (one small white chair) and proceeded to give my husband a much needed haircut. Our daughters, MG and PX, sat together on our patio loveseat. Provisioned with several books and a flashlight, MG read to PX (and all of us) about Paddington the Bear. It was very cooling and refreshing to be outside. We ending our evening by sighting three conspicuous objects in the western sky: Saturn, Mars and the bright star Spica. We were noticing that Spica sparkled with a blue/white light; and PX pointed out that the three shining objects were red, white and blue – the colors of the United States.