I use the winter solstice to help me get through winter — each day after is longer until you get to June 20, which makes those long cold months easier to bear. Of course on June 20 it makes me a little sad because you know that each day after is shorter until Dec 20, but we still have more than 2 months of summer left, so I try to focus on that. I personally love being on the western edge of a time zone because that means that the sun doesn’t go down until after 9 every day, and it isn’t truly dark until 10pm.

Yes, totally agree. So pragmatic.

@SHU it is HOT. Like opening an oven door HOT. I think the biggest reason people don’t realize it as much is because the temperature variation is huge! Unlike in steamy Florida, on a 117 degree day, the low might be 80 and it will be 117 for 5 minutes at 4 p.m. There is also a much bigger difference in temperature in the shade. However this past weekend my Mom’s SO went to play golf at 7:30 am and it was already 100 degrees.

I forgot to say that we never felt impressively hot while we were hiking. The humidity was about 15%, so we were very warm, but not miserable like we are here in Indiana when it’s 85-90°F with a matching humidity of 85-90%. The dry heat thing is REAL.

And I always love when you say things like “But we all survived.” I’ve listened to your voice in podcasting format enough that when I read your posts, I literally play these sorts of lines “aloud” in my mind in your voice.

You’re just so pragmatic. It was hard. We survived. Moving on. Love it…such a great dose of perspective.