Let's Talk with Maggie Toussaint
Five Ways to Beat the Heat
August 1, 2024
It’s hot out there!. In coastal Georgia, we’ve been living with the Dog Days of August in late June and all of July. The high temperatures make me want to hunker down until the outdoors stops roasting.
Here are my top five ways to beat the heat:
1. Stay inside, preferably in air conditioning, and read a good book. This should be mandatory for everyone experiencing too much heat. Reading is a summer must-do. And it isn’t a hardship to any of us at the bench and our followers. We all love to read!
2. Do something creative indoors. We all have these small projects we’ve put off because there’s always something that has to be done. Perhaps you have a DIY project that’s sitting on your back burner. Maybe you’ve always wanted to take up some form of the arts. These days experts on any subject are only a click away, and you can often find video tutorials on any subject on YouTube.
3. Perform outdoor tasks in the wee hours of the morning. You may have to wait a few hours if you want to use a power tool outside so as not to annoy your neighbors, but there’s always weeding, trimming, potting, and mulching. This is also a great time to grocery shop as you can zip through the store aisles while most people are still lost in pajama world. Even in the milder morning heat, remember to pace yourself and to hydrate often.
4. Refresh yourself with a water view. Venture out to a lake, pond, river, creek, ocean, or even a backyard pool. There’s something so rejuvenating about ducking under the water. Even better, the buoyancy of water helps keep gravity at bay. If you’re not a swimmer, consider pool walking in the shallows. I find looking at the ocean to be supremely restorative. Again, mind the heat and prep with sunscreen and pack fluids before you venture out.
5. Take long naps. I’m not kidding. Connecting with our dream-time often results in a major creativity bonanza. Summertime is good for taking “me” time, even if a vacation isn’t in the cards this year. Perhaps you’ve become an armchair traveler. Combine tip 1 with 5 and dream of yourself in that story. In a busy world that seems to turn ever faster and requires software updates every week, recharging ourselves should be a priority.
Regardless of how you beat the heat, I hope you’ll preorder TALLOWED GROUND, book 3 of 5 in A Magic Candle Shop Mysteries. Click to my website page for buy links to most vendors.
For a chance to win a copy of IN THE WICK OF TIME (US only), share your favorite way to beat the heat. The winner will be announced Tuesday, August 6. The winner may select a print book or an ebook.
While you’re here, click over to our site’s August contest. We’re giving away two books to one winner. The contest runs from August 1-22, and there are multiple ways to enter. CLICK HERE to enter.
Want to learn more about our author Maggie Toussaint? Visit her WEBSITE
Posted in Let's Talk, with Maggie Toussaint • Tags: Five Ways to beat the heat, Let's Talk, Maggie Toussaint, Valona Jones | 43 Comments
Reading for me is a must to address summer heat, winter cold, and anything in between. You’ve nailed my summer treats – especially looking at water ( though lately, looking through a window from an air conditioned room is preferred).
I spend these hot humid days of Cincinnati, Ohio Valley in our TV room with Cozy books, Cozy, puzzles, tea, or lemonade. I can’t even join me. He usually lays on the air conditioner every now and then I sneak in A biography and I’m reading one Called my mama Cass about Cass Elliot of the mamas and Papas, but I’ve got three cozies right next to my bed two in the TV room and one in the living room so don’t worry I haven’t given up my Cozy every day. Everybody have a blessed day. And enjoy your cool time
I am delighted to hear that we have the same ideas about beating the heat. Nothing like viewing water to soothe the soul.
Great minds think alike! Stay cool this summer. (Ha Ha–that sounds like something we wrote in a high school yearbook!)
I’ve tried twice to leave a comment for you, Debra, and for some reason they end up with the next comment person. Hopefully going slower will make it work. Cybergremlins must love the heat! Your answer made me smile.
Trying this again. Summer reading is my jam too, though my summertime taste in books leans to books with more action and adventure, along with my TV tastes. AC is a great resource and we’re lucky to have it.
I like to take walks in air-conditioned comfort at places like the local mall, furniture store, Walmart, Target, Ikea, food stores, or anywhere else that offers good walking exercise and is indoors. As for my walk outside, I go early in the morning at dawn.
I’m so glad we like in the time of Air Conditioning! Way to go on sticking to a walking routine in the summer.
i do the same, especially when it’s already 80+ at 8 am!!
Good for you, Sandy! You and Nancy are inspirations to us all!
For me, it’s to head to our front porch. When we built our dream forever home, one of the things we both considered a must have was a large, covered front porch. Ours is wide and covers the whole front of the house and has several fans. While being shaded 99% of the time, it’s always a cool place to rest, enjoy something cool to drink and enjoy the many daily critter visitors (from birds to bears) we have. It’s also my favorite place to read (other than in the winter), which in itself makes it a special place to be.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
That sounds lovely, Kay! Critter watching is also a past time of mine.
I do a lot of running in the summer…running from one airconditioned place to another! I can vaguely recall the olden days when I was maybe 6 or 7 visiting my grandparents’ house in Lubbock Texas in the summer. No A/C there, but I still played upstairs in the attic bedroom in the heat. Guess when you are used to it, the temp isn’t such a big deal. But I’m definitely a fan of summer naps.
I am like a cat in that I enjoy drowsing in the (filtered) sunshine. It warms my bones and helps me feel refreshed. I love your running routine, Diane!!
My favorite way to beat the heat is to read in the air conditioning while drinking iced tea. Have a wonderful day. God bless you.
That sounds Lovely, Debbie! I hope you have an intriguing to-be-read pile!
I walk before nine in order to avoid the worst of the heat in St. Petersburg, Florida. Everything else is air-conditioned. This year, we’ve escaped to the Canadian Rockies for a couple of weeks. It’s absolutely beautiful!
Ah, a vacation in a place where it isn’t hot enough to roast your chestnuts! Enjoy the respite from the summer oven of Florida!
There are days when I don’t leave my air-conditioned house! As a kid living in the city, I remember the only two places with AC being the supermarket and the movie theaters. Lots of sleepless nights of tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable and never really succeeding. I’m not sure how the human race survived without heat in the winter and AC in the summer.
I hear you, Lois. I am delighted I wasn’t born in pioneer times. First, its likely I wouldn’t have survived childhood illnesses, but if I did, the lifestyle would be so challenging! As a kid without AC, we lived in the shade or in front of a window fan. Those were our saving graces, heat-wise. Also, it was normal for people to slow way down in whatever they were doing in the heat of the day. In today’s world, that doesn’t work. Everything is set on go-go-go!
Air conditioning and Iced Tea with lemon. I also eat watermelon, strawberries, peaches and plums they cool you down with their juicy flavor. Deborah
I love fruit in the summer, especially locally grown fruit that has that just off the tree/vine freshness. We used to have a watermelon guy that would ride around with his pickup full of watermelons. We’d float it in the creek with us while we were swimming and then we’d feast on it afterward. Good Times!
Air conditioning, lots of cold drinks, lots of ice cream. I love watermelon which is very refreshing. I also love cool foods such as potato salad and deviled eggs. Cheese and crackers have been go to a lot for lunches.
Yes! All of that! Cool foods are summertime comfort foods. I had a cheese and cracker lunch two days ago!
Reading or working on craft projects inside in the air conditioning. A frozen drink after a particularily hot day at work. I eat a lot more sandwiches, yogurt, and other cold meals in summer.
I remember how hot the kitchen used to be in days before AC! There’s a lot of truth to that saying “if you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen!” It’s nice that the reason not to cook summer meals (too hot in the kitchen) transfers to those of us who have lived most of our lives in air conditioning! But that creamy freshness and coolness is so welcome in summertime.
When I was a little kid in Houston the heat didn’t bother me. But now. . .yikes. No pool so that is not an option. Fortunately we have a/c (which my parents didn’t for a long time. Nor did the schools.) so I stick to the house and do a lot of reading. And drink cold beverages.
That sounds like an excellent plan, Pat. It’s wise to be wary of those high heat days anyway. I overdid it outside earlier in the summer and that set me back for several days afterward.
My favorite way to beat the heat is to stay in the air conditioning with a good book, a glass of iced tea and a cat 🐈 or two nearby.
You made me smile, Dianne! Fabulous answer.
I beat the heat with a/c and ceiling fans.
Air circulation is a coolant in itself but air conditioning is a godsend. I am so glad to live in an era when we aren’t all roasting in the heat.
Reading, preferably in a nice, quiet, air-conditioned place with my kitty boy side, is by far my favorite way to beat the heat! 😁🐾❤️
That sounds great, Maria!
While we’re getting warm here in San Diego, it’s nothing like what other parts of the country are experiencing. In fact, we’ve begun the last few mornings with fog. By cooling down the house at night and then closing up as soon as it heats up, we’ve been able to avoid the AC most of the time. But we have gotten caught a few times when the temps get too warm for too long (but still only high 80s, nothing to complain about!)
You are lucky to live in such a temperate climate. The temperatures we experience now in coastal GA is more extreme than what Florida had in my childhood! I know because we’d often drive to St Augustine to visit my grandmother. In those days, us kids were made to lay down and nap, even in our teens while in her home. As a grandmother myself, I suspect that either Flossie didn’t do well with the heat or it was the commotion of kids that got to her. Two highlights of those visits were playing with granddaddy Jack’s cigar boxes and with playing at the fort, which was just down the street.
air conditioning helps
Sure does!
Living in California I need air conditioning to survive.
I sympathize. Coastal GA has been hotter than a frying pan this summer and for the last few years. In that regard, it’s been a good time to be a writer because I stay inside to write. Air conditioning makes the summer heat tolerable and it certainly makes it easier to sleep.
It is crazy how hot it has been this summer! I used to live in NC so I completely understand how bad the heat coupled with the humidity can be, and you have my sympathies to be sure. Out here on the left inland area wishing it was the coast, we are in a hot pocket. This is a cute valley area but right now we feel like it is a slow cooker. I am trying to up my water intake since I am of a certain age and don’t need a hot flash in addition to the summer heat. Water with a little fruit flavor added by way of infusing or adding sliced fruit to the water glass or a pitcher of water, such as watermelon, citrus of any kind, or strawberries. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity, cozy authors are the best!
Hey Tracy, Thanks for chiming in. I’d forgotten about the fruit flavored water being so tasty in the summer. I love water with lemon and/or oranges
My winner for IN THE WICK OF TIME is TRACY CONDIE! The winner was selected using random.org. My apologies for the late notice. We had a tropical storm here and yesterday was full of rain and wind.. I will notify Tracie via email that she’s the winner. Congratulations to Tracy, and thanks, one and all, for stopping in to share your thoughts on beating the heat.