Simple Pleasures: Beat the Heat With Water

From sprinklers, mist gardens and swimming holes, to early-morning beach walks with waves lapping at your feet, water provides some of the best, simplest pleasures on summer days. Being mindful of the joy water brings can help you get into the spirit of the season. Get ready to quench your thirst and cool your tired feet!

Take an early-morning beach walk. Whether you are staying at a beach house this summer (lucky!) or need to drive a ways to get to the shore, it wouldn’t feel like summer without at least one early-morning beach walk. Go before the crowds arrive, before the sand heats up, when it’s just you and the cool waves lapping at your feet. Bliss.


Enjoy a mist garden. The feeling of a fine, cool mist on a hot day is marvelous. Find a shady spot in your garden or on your covered patio and set up a mister for a cooling break — mist-making hoses and hose attachments can be found at most well-stocked home and garden stores.



Run through a sprinkler. The gentle “shh” of a sprinkler is an iconic summer sound — and few experiences better sum up simple summer pleasures than running through one in a bathing suit on a hot summer day. On the first really hot day of summer, embrace your inner kid and go for it. Follow it with an icy Popsicle eaten on the lawn.



Find a swimming hole. A secluded swimming spot tucked among tall trees is a lovely place in which to while away a summer afternoon. Feed your nostalgia by toting along an old Coleman cooler filled with plenty of snacks and cool drinks, and an inner tube for floating. And if there’s a rope swing, so much the better.


Take an outdoor shower. Run straight from the beach, swimming hole or pool to the outdoor shower. Turn on the cool water and put your head under the stream. Even a quick dip will leave you cool, calm and invigorated.


Dip your toes in a fountain. A backyard fountain positioned low on a wall makes a perfect place for kicking off shoes and cooling feet on a hot day. No fountain? Make your own spa-worthy foot bath: Fill a tub with ice-cold water and a few handfuls of fresh mint, and soak those tired pups.


Water thirsty plants. Hand watering a thirsty garden is incredibly satisfying — you can practically hear the plants thanking you! Do your watering in the early morning or evening, when the sun won’t bake the water directly away.



Quench your thirst with ice-cold water on the porch. Preferably enhanced with a few slices of lemon or cool garden cucumber, or a handful of mint leaves — but on a really hot day, a tall glass of ice water is the simplest pleasure of all.

Give back. If all of this talk of water has you inspired, why not channel some of those good feelings and reach out to a charity organization that helps provide drinking water to people where clean water is not available? Even giving a small amount can make an impact in someone’s life.

Tell us: What’s your favorite way to cool down on a hot day?

Do you live in a dry area? How to make the best use of your precious water

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