summertime and the livin' is easy

Well, the first official weekend of summer was H.O.T.  We spent mornings and evenings in the yard and saved our air-conditioned activities for the middle of the day.  We're not big on television, but there is something about oppressive heat that makes me want to sit still for a few minutes, inside.  We signed up for a free one week Hulu Plus trial and are plowing our way through season one of Downton Abbey before it runs out. 

Yesterday we spent a delightful afternoon with Sara, my college roommate, and her family.  For lunch, we went to Mert's Heart and Soul Restaurant and ate food that made me proud to be a southerner.  Our table was loaded with cornbread, red beans and rice, chopped barbecue, okra, and collard greens.  I don't even like collard greens and I was eating these like they were my last meal. 

Sara and I were not just roommates in the traditional sense.  You may be picturing a cookie-cutter college apartment with several bedrooms and thinking that we each lived in one and saw each other in the hallway or kitchen from time to time.  No, pumpkin, no. 

Calling Sara my "roommate" is something akin to calling another soldier in your platoon your "buddy".  We spent two years together in a basement apartment, sharing both a bedroom and a bathroom.  Not just the two of us, either.  We had a third cohort, sharing the same rooms as well.  We battled floods, freezes, animals that sneak inside, bugs that can leap three feat in a single bound, mold, a leaky water heater, and there may have been more than one occasion where we snuck out a window. 

Needless to say, we've formed a lifelong bond.  It was so great to see her. 

At Mert's, the waitstaff parade around with cakes on platters, making you wish you'd eaten a little less barbecue.  Or had a bigger stomach. 

Steve and I managed to resist the cake in favor of the dessert waiting for us at home later- homemade cream cheese ice cream with berries.  It looked like the fourth of July and tasted like a birthday.  We scraped our bowls clean during episode three and declared the weekend a success. 

I'm feeling energized to get back to work this morning, which is a darn good thing.  After congratulating myself on completing 38 zipper pouches last week, today I find that I need to make 25 more.  When it rains, it pours!