Staying cool is all about choices

Once the initial shock of a heat wave sinks in, we begin to expand our options for coping. For the first couple of days it was AC, shade, water, fans and avoid the outdoors at midday. As the week wore on, we began to test the temperature a little bit and walk outside, feel the air and go back in. But now that it has been here a while, it's time to make some serious coping choices.

We can only stay inside so long before the walls, as cool as they are, begin to close around us. Suddenly, we see a new set of coping mechanisms - raspberry ice, ice cream sundaes, and root beer floats. Normally, many of us would be concerned about the impact on our waistlines, but in hot weather this is not an issue because the choices on the window have moved beyond a quick fix for a sweet palette to an abundant list of coping mechanisms offering relief from the heat.

As for the diet? We can do that anytime, especially in winter.