I used to love summer days and nights

The hotter and longer, the better.

Crazy Aunt Purl's post about fried okra reminded me of this.

I spent 16 years living in the fog belt where a sweater was common wear almost every day. 22 years ago we bought a house 15 miles inland where spring and fall are warm and clear, fog is seen on winter mornings, and summers are long and hot. Evenings spent outside on the lawn chair, sipping iced tea or beer, planning a BBQ for dinner with locally-grown corn on the cob all by itself as the first course, tomato salad to die for, potato salad, watermelon for dessert.

Fried okra as a special treat.

A special treat for ME ONLY. Husband and kids think okra is just too, too gross for words. Fine with me, I'll eat it any way I can get it. Fried is best. With chopped onions and lots of black pepper.

This is how life is supposed to be.

That was before menopause, which changed EVERYTHING.

Now it's indoors with the air conditioning running, outside only with mosquito repellent, sunscreen, and hat. Corn on the cob still appears, but tomato and potato salads are verboten because of DH's renal and cardiac diet and these delights have far too much potassium. Watermelon has to be measured... hell, everything has to be measured!

But my love for fried okra is eternal, deathless, unchanged.

The miseries of menopause and turning 50 are, IMHO, vastly overrated. Maybe I was just lucky, but I was really happy to leave the 40's behind. Hot flashes became a convenient way to cut the winter heating bill. Don't like my greying hair -- tough! I earned every single strand (and I hold YOU responsible). Mood swings? I DON'T HAVE NO STINKIN' MOOD SWINGS!!!!

Some thoughts on air conditioning. This has to be the greatest gift God has given to modern man. AC makes life possible (especially during the heat wave of the past week). AC makes sure I can sleep at night. AC lets me cook real meals. AND MOST IMPORTANT -- AC lets me knit any time I want!