Today marks the middle of July. Where I live this has generally meant (at least since I’ve been transplanted here) the beginning of four weeks of about 90*F (32.22*C) or higher temperatures. That is not something that I look forward to, especially since we do not have air conditioning.

Since my husband is an O and my son an A they shouldn’t have any ice cream. I don’t particularly care for ice milk, so what do I use to help cool off? Fruit pops are an obvious choice (homemade - the commercial ones are way too expensive and that assumes that you can even find them without all the extra nasty additives).

I don’t care for the sticky mess that the melted pops can make or trying to keep track of all the handle pieces that the mold needs so that you can hold on to them. The mold itself also wastes of a lot of my limited freezer space because of those same handle pieces.

If my son was younger (or I was older and had grandchildren) I would still make the pops, but this household is between those two stages of life. What I do instead is freeze the fruit juice or fruit pulp into disks that fit my ice shaver so that I can make almost instant granitas anytime somebody wants one. I make them in a variety of flavors in freezer bags. They waste less space, aren’t as messy when they start to melt, and are easier to get out of the molds.

What kinda flavors do I make? Depends on what I have available and what I’m in the mood for. Grapefruit is one I especially like. So is cherry-lemon and watermelon-lime. Pineapple-grapefruit is good, too. Sometimes though, it’s tomato juice and a touch of celery juice. That one may sound strange, but I like it. The only draw back is that I’d like to add some vodka to that one. I think that it would be intersting to try using green tea at some point.

If you’ve been over on the other side of this site, perhaps you’ve seen the T-Tapp* bootcamp thread. I have noticed a difference for the better in my posture and have several especially achy muscles that I didn’t even know I could feel since I’ve started doing the first instructional disk. I am beginning to think that I am part duck in addition to the cat that my husband says is also lurking in me (I love to sleep in the sun on cool days, think fish is a great meal even without any side dishes, and love the expressiveness of a tail).

The body brushing continues to be absolutely wonderful! I have been telling people about it and am trying to get my husband to try it.

My eggplant machego (as opposed to eggplant Parmesan-Reggiano) should be just about done now, so I’m off to munch now. Have a great weekend everyone!

*No, T-Tapp is not part of BTD, but exercise is and T-Tapp is a type of exercise. If you would like more info. about it: www.t-tapp.com, and/or read some of Rachel Theora Sapyta’s blogs. She is an O type and how I learned about it.