It's so hot here you can fry an egg in my hand

Dante's inferno has nothing on NC in the middle of the summer.  In fact I think Dante must have visited here and was trying to write about his experiences.  Granted I have a great tan and I probably look better than I have in years.  You know that nice tanned look with juicy skin.  Yes juicy skin, you know like a rare steak.  The sweat oozes out of me.  I can't get water in me fast enough.  Just sitting at the computer and the sweat pours. 

I have never been a fan of sweat.  I remember as a kid I would spend my days at the community pool in Vermont just to stay cool.  It was great and I loved my time there.  But when it came time to go home I was 'required' to change back into my clothes.  Yes, required.  It was not acceptable for one to wear there bathing suit home, even with clothes on over it.  The proper thing was to change back into your clothes.  If you have ever had to do this then you know what I am talking about.  Your in the hot, very hot changing rooms.  Off goes the suit, yanking it down your legs, but that was easy compared to pulling your clothes back on.  Now you try to pull up your panties.  But, your skin is now hot and sticky and sweaty and the panties keep catching on the sweat.  They roll up as you pull up.  Then you're reaching behind you twisting your body trying to unwind the panties and pull them up at the same time.  Just visualize this crazy posture and you will get the point.  After, what seemed like hours, you finally get your panties on then you work on the shorts.  They are a bit better as they slide better once you get them up to your rump.  Now it is over the head with your shirt.  Easy to pull over the head, put your arms in the holes but now it is all rolled up in a tight ball around your armpits.  Once again you are trying to unroll it and move it down your body.  The front you get pretty well, it is the back.  Now you are reaching behind and up your back, like a contortionist, trying to grab that wad of shirt.  Once this ordeal is over you begin your walk home,  By the time you reach home you are so hot you wonder what happened to that nice cool body you had at the pool and if it was actually worth all this.

Awww!  The joys of summer.

In case you can't figure this out, I am not a summer person and never was.  I believe this season should be whipped clean off the calendar.  Instead I want spring, fall and winter.  We can divide summer in two, giving each half away to the previous and  following seasons.  And for all you true summer people, You can move to Florida where they can corner the market on summer.

So with all my real insides now on the outside, let's get back to my preparation for my 500 mile walk across hot Spain.  Smile!  What a glutton for punishment!

I am finding my hot spots.  I remember as a kid that when we got new shoes we had to break them in and we got blisters every time.  Mine were on the back of my heal.  I didn't really remember this as much as reexperience this.  My heal and the tendons that roam around there just seem to hurt even when I am not walking.  This is my Achilles heal.  Haw Haw, aren't I funny Achilles heal and my heal.  Bad.

Back on target again.  I was talking with my son today and he suggested I strengthen them by walking barefoot.  This is something I used to do all the time.  But in the last 10 years, for some reason I just stopped.  Maybe it was finding sneakers that actually fit me.  I have high arches and the old style of sneakers actually hurt my feet, wa la I walked barefoot, it felt better.  Now we have these indulgently expensive sneakers to make our feet feel great.  I became a convert.  To my determent if I understand our conversation correctly. So back to much more barefoot walking to strengthen my feet again.

I read a book written by two sisters from Maine that walked the Appalachian Trail barefoot, the Barefoot Sisters.  I don't have any problem understanding their reason for doing this as I grew up in Vermont and walking barefoot was my thing as well.  But that was years ago, no decades ago.   Now I am in cement city and walking on the cement barefoot is a sure indication of burns.  Yes, burns and I meant real burns for those of you that don't live in a city.  I hear they have these strange new shoes that look like feet, a place for each toe.  These are supposed to simulate walking barefoot while protecting your feet form such things as burns.  I guess I will go to the store and see how much it is going to cost me to walk 'barefoot'.

Here are a couple of pics of where I am walking now:
Can you see me walking barefoot down this road?  Definitely a new dance step in the making as I high foot it, trying to keep from burning my feet.

 

Have a great day and think of me as I dance the dance of fire down the road today.

Buen Camino

b