Make a dragon want to retire

I’ve never loved summer heat the way a couple of my friends do. They positively glory in heat and humidity and find my dislike nearly impossible to understand. I don’t mind summer temperatures, but when the humidity reaches 80% or more, then it’s just impossible to cool off and I feel sticky and gross.

This summer has been very warm and quite humid—you know it’s bad when the temperature is in the high 80s but the heat index is over 100. And I know I’ve mentioned that some of my runs have been downright miserable. I’m not exaggerating, I’ve gotten overheated to the point of nausea and have had to walk for a bit in the vain hope of cooling off just a bit.

I’m not alone. My granddaughter has struggled with heat exhaustion this year, to the point of throwing up and feeling generally miserable. I feel for her. I remember struggling with the heat in basic training. I was in southern Alabama from mid-July through late September and that heat was no joke. I had to drop out of a couple of training runs just to throw up because I got so overheated. You can imagine how that went over with my drill sergeants.

I’m probably always going to be sensitive to the heat. At least now I can walk for 30 seconds or so while on a run and not have a drill sergeant yelling at me and calling me names.

Here's a little Bruno Mars for you again--he's so hot, he's cool.

Lo how a rose e'er blooming

OK, it's not a rose. It's not even real. But it's a flower pin for the granddaughter's bolero jacket. I cobbled this together from a tutorial meant for cotton which meant I made it up as I went along. There's a pin on the back so she can pin it on and take it off and put it away from her brothers' destruco-hands.

Happy birthday, Alison!

Two years ago, we were waiting for the call that our granddaughter was born. Jen had gone into labor a month early and in her case, the labor-stopping drugs worked really well. So well, in fact, that Alison was a bit late and Jen had to be induced.

What with the delays and the hospital bumping Jen back a couple of days because they were full, Kent and I ended up being the first grandparents to see Alison. She was so small and so long, a perfect little peanut of a girl.

I wondered how Kent would respond to a baby, since he has no children of his own and never really had that biological clock ringing in his ear. He totally fell in love with her, and remains firmly wrapped around her little finger.

Actually we both are, but it's really easy to dote on Alison. She's a happy child and hands out hugs and kisses easily. I wish we could be there to give her real kisses today, but alas, virtual ones will have to do.

Happy birthday, Peanut!