how to survive a heatwave

New York City, along with a lot of the Northeast, is in the thick of a record-breaking heatwave. Yesterday temperatures soared to 103 degrees (with the heat index reaching 107) -- the first time in 9 years NYC has seen triple digit temperatures. Heat like this might sound wimpy to those of you who see it on a regular basis, but for all the advancements we get to partake of in this city, central air is not one of them. And so our homes turn to saunas so thickly humid we start to wonder if we'd be more comfortable outside, which of course we know we wouldn't, and so we become cranky and irritable. In short, this heatwave has been the pits. Here's a sampling of what we've done to keep cool and ward off the misery.

Take cold showers. And lots of them.

Limit activity. Garrett is glued to PBS, I can't get my nose out of my book (The Help, in case you're wondering), and Caleb, who is the most active of us all, tends to plop down in the middle of a room and only play with those toys within his reach.

Hole up in the only room with air conditioning. We have a small window a/c unit that we keep in the boys room (we're all about sacrifice here). When it's hot, we spend as much time as we can in here with the a/c on and the door closed. I'm not opposed to visiting public places with better air conditioning, like museums or the library, but going someplace else means, you know, having to go outside. In the sweltering heat. No, thank you.

Run fans full blast in the rest of the house. We might only own one little a/c unit, but we're well-equipped with lots of fans (and a cross breeze, when one blows in off the harbor), and while they don't do a thing to condition the air, the breezes feel nice.


Venture outside only for park sprinklers or ice cream. We left the house twice yesterday: once so Garrett could cool off by running through the park sprinklers (at the park down by the harbor where there's usually a bit of a breeze),


and a second time to get ice cream so we could...

Make and eat popsicles. I threw some vanilla ice cream in the blender with some frozen mixed berries and a splash of milk and called it good. I don't own popsicle molds, but small dixie cups and popsicle sticks make a fine substitute.

Make dinner, but do your best to not have to cook it. Last night we had cold cantaloupe soup, even though I think it's technically a dessert soup. Tonight we've having spinach salad with deviled eggs on the side.

Drink lots (and lots) of water. This one's pretty self explanatory, but do yourself a favor and make sure it's ice cold.


Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get out of the sweltering sauna my living room has turned into and back to the boys' room and their air conditioning. Maybe I'll bring some ice cream with me.

How do you beat the heat?