It's not even 80F at 4pm!

What does one do with three days, heading toward four, of balmy, fall-like, cool nights and warm-not-hot days in the middle of summer? 'Cause we've got it! Usually here in our part of the southern Great Plains full-on summer is happening in late July: mid-90s to 100s during the day, low 70s or upper 60s at night, with a blessed stiff breeze to stir things up, and everyone's air conditioner/heat pump cooling our homes from May 'til October. We keep our a/c temp high enough that I break a sweat when I'm doing chores or cooking, but still.

An actual summer cold front thing-y (note the technical meteorological term) came through a few nights ago, with a nice thunderstorm and an appropriate amount of rain. In its wake, it left us with daytime highs barely bumping 80F and nighttime lows dipping near 60F. I don't hate the summer heat, really, I just sort of figure out how to deal with it or hide from it. Yet this is a blessing! A few days of respite in which to fling our windows wide to the fresh air and outside sounds.

So, what do we do differently in a cool spell? I'm having a ball listening to kids playing in the park behind us, my own kids playing outside, and the more distant sounds of the housing construction and the oil rig disassembly happening a block away. I hung out outside with the kids several times this afternoon, when normally it's just too hot. I'm doing some loads of laundry that take a lot of drying so I usually do them late at night or first thing in the morning. I made a stove-and-oven dinner last night (pasta and red sauce, sautéed local zucchini, homemade bread) that I just couldn't face on a hot day. I'll do a very-hot-oven dinner tonight (homemade pizza, with toppings -- for me -- of local bell peppers, tomatoes, and onion slivers).

I hear we should have two more lovely cool nights. By Wednesday morning I'll close up the house and its lovely coolness as the day heats up, and remind the kids to close the doors to the outside as they go in and out. Until then, as I go to sleep each night I'll savor hearing someone shooting hoops at the basketball hoop in the park, and the nearby dogs talking to each other. If last night was any indication, it's time to toss the spring/fall coverlet back over the bed. A little pause in our summer.

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Oops! I just spent 10 minutes ushering two sopping wet kids through the shed-sandals, shed wet clothes, dry off, etc., that's typical after a midsummer water fight -- but one of the two was shivering and they wanted to get dry. Hmm!