The high on the first day of school next week is forecasted to be 87. That is the HIGH. I LOVE the weather here. People around here are SO funny. They think it is hot. It is NOT hot. I went to an evening church service a couple weeks ago and all the leaders made heat jokes before everything they said. “Since it is 142 degrees out there today, we are glad you could make it to church tonight,” they quipped. I sat there rolling my eyes. They don’t know heat. That very day I had been driving to church with my windows down. In real heat you can’t do that. Finally the pastor got up to preach. He said they were joking about the heat but where he was last week was REALLY hot. “I was in Houston and San Antonio, “ he said. Yup! That is heat. Like duh, people. Pastors are always smarter. Ha ha! Anyway, yeah, they think it is hot. They think morning dew is humidity. The pastor said being in Texas in August is like when your clothes are 80 percent dry and you take them out of the dryer and put them on because you are running late and spend the day in them like that. Told you pastors were smart.

There is a downside to my having adjusted to Texas heat. I am always FREEZING here. After tambourine practice last night we went out with a couple. I enjoyed everyone on the team and this lady and her husband were so neat. She said, “I hope you come back. I like you.” That made me feel so good because when you get down you feel like all your niceness has evaporated, so I was glad I was still likable! Excuse my bunny trail, anyway, we went to Marie Callender’s (folks in TX: That is a real restaurant and not just a frozen food line!) and I was freezing from standing outside. Remember I was in a coastal town. We got to the restaurant and Margaret gave me her jacket from her outfit. I put it on my legs, decided my naked legs needed warmth more than my partially covered arms. It was a difficult trade-off, and I still froze. When we got back in the van I was literally SHIVERING! Talk about exaggerated jokes, I said it must be 12 degrees. Realistically it was more like 60, but I was cold. She had to run the heat all the way home. This morning we went to the ocean. At 11 a.m. in Ventura it was still in the 60s. We walked in one side and out the other. I was too cold to stay. There was a family there with two little girls in swimsuits. They all looked rather comfortable.

Ha. I would like to see them endure a Texas summer.