Beat the Heat

Melbourne is experiencing it's hottest days in 100 years and all that is on my mind right now is the heat. SubhanAllah, I'm very bad at coping in hot weather, which is kind of surprising given that I spent most of my childhood in Saudi Arabia. I guess the laid back lifestyle there makes it easier to get by.

It has been forecasted to be over 40 degrees for four consecutive days with today being our first. Alhamdulilah, I'm glad I can stay home in this sweltering heat but my heart goes out to those who have to actually get out of their homes and go to work. We've had a relatively easy start to summer, but looks like now it's making up for the mild days that went by. Alhamdulilah, atleast we got to go out and do some summer activities, and I'm hoping after this scorcher of a week we have some respite and I can venture out again with the kids and get a breath of fresh air, inshaAllah.

So before I start whinging all over again about how hot it is, maybe it's a good idea to list the good things about summer to lift up my spirits.

• More daylight, which means more time to stay outdoors
• Lots of reasons to dig into a bowl of ice-cream (low fat perhaps)
• On days when you feel fat you can resort to some yummy smoothies. Add whatever you like - strawberries, blueberries, yoghurt, store bought vanilla custard (Yep, Try it!), mangoes and any other seasonal fruit you can get your hands on.
• Going to the beach and feeling the sand under my feet and splashing around in the water
• Scrumptious BBQs
• Family picnics and day trips, my favourite!
• Shopping

Before I sign off I'd like to share this hadith that springs to my mind everytime the heat starts getting to me.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "In very hot weather delay the Zuhr prayer till it becomes (a bit) cooler because the severity of heat is from the raging of Hell-fire. The Hell-fire of Hell complained to its Lord saying: O Lord! My parts are eating (destroying) one another. So Allah allowed it to take two breaths, one in the winter and the other in the summer. The breath in the summer is at the time when you feel the severest heat and the breath in the winter is at the time when you feel the severest cold." (Sahih Bukhari).

So what is the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about summer?