*'tis the season.

Summer came in this year not like a lion or a lamb but like Satan, all blistering and angry and contemptuous. Grass died, sidewalks steamed, and the world was subjected to far more of my white flesh than it ever deserved.

But we all mustered our courage and remembered that we are Alabamians. We know how to do this. We simply have to shuffle resignedly from air-conditioned space to air-conditioned space for the next three months. We have to strip our babies down to their diapers and gulp our cocktails before the ice melts and stand over vents and wish for rain. We are the people who coined prettier words for "perspiration."

Fall cannot come fast enough. A local news anchor reminded me last night that it's "only one month before school starts again" and I almost burst into tears. Still, there are some consolation prizes.



tomato salads.



sparkler girls.



family fun.



light lunches.



cool drinks.



twilight parties.



fresh fruit.



toothy grins.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go hug a box fan.