Stick Horse Cowgirls

I am born and raised in the South.  So why is it that the hot summers always seem to take me by surprise?  “ Can you believe it is so hot?!” I’ll say to someone…well, yes, it gets hot here like this each and every year, Dodo.  In my defense I must say that others make the same comments to me.  It’s just a way of making conversation, I guess, and the heat is main topic right now.  My little car registered 106 coming home yesterday, and it’s not going to let up through the rest of the week.  As I write this at 4 am, it is 86 degrees, and my computer forecast says 106 again today… V and I were talking about growing up in Arkansas in the 50’s when no one had air conditioning, not even in the car. Ooooooh , I remembe r my bare sweaty legs sticking to the car seats and driving with the windows rolled  down, glad for the warm air moving through the car.  We would fight for a “window seat” so we could lean into the air (kind of like this dog in ...

Summer is most definitely here.  With the turn of the season, my tastes in food turn, too. We tend toward the meat-heavy in this household, I’m afraid.  Through three-quarters of the year my homemade vegetable soup is chocked-full of vegetables, but there are plenty of chunks of beef in it as well. Now that summer is here, however, we’re tending toward the vegetarian-style, without meat.  There seems to be something about oppressive heat that turns one’s fancy away from red meat—at least in this household.  When the fall crisp hits, we’ll be returning to stews and pot roasts, I can tell you; but for now summer tastes run toward foods like: Sweet iced tea .  Lots of it.  With lemon, please.  Occasionally you will find a slice of lime or sprig of mint in mine, but usually it’s lemon. Fewer sodas and more lemonade —even the sugar-free Crystal light kind.  Just seems to be more hydrating.  Needless to say, our consumption of water goes ...