Hot Hot Hot Birthday Weather Again

My birthday always seems to fall during some of the worst weather of the summer. This year has been no exception, with the entire western and northeastern parts of the country consumed with a withering heatwave. Last night I arrived at the gym to find that the AC wasn't working too well, but I virtuously toughed it out, racing through my workout in the 90 degree heat in record time. On the way home, soaking with sweat, I stopped at the supermarket, which was over-chilled but had half the lights out to conserve energy I guess. So here I am, getting ready for a birthday lunch with my 90 year old mom on the hottest day of the year. I made the top last weekend from some lovely Indian fabric that I had bought at John Lewis in 1998. Picture is a bit blurry, but taking self-portraits is not one of my talents.

I started the day at about 7:30 to avoid the worst heat - the temperature was already 84 - and first headed to the Amish market where I found some lovely tiny sweet plums.

When I got home, after I took the picture of the plums, I arranged my huge plum tomatoes and tiny sweet orange paruche tomatoes with a deep violet prosperosa eggplant from my garden.

It hit 102 in the afternoon and after my mom and I had lunch (transported by my highly air conditioned Camry) I found that she hadn't been to pick up her mail for three days because it was too hot for her to leave the house. So we stopped by the main building of her community and I waited outside of the door while she dashed inside. It just started raining this evening, so I hope it cools off to 90 or so tomorrow.