Hot days, cold drinks

Watermelon and strawberries combine for a refreshing summer beverage.

One of my favorite things to drink is watermelon agua fresca. I also love strawberry lemonade and consider myself lucky that it comes already made and I can keep it handy in the refrigerator. My youngest son likes horchata, tasting of rice and cinnamon.

We are all experiencing some very hot temperatures lately, and the heat trend seems to be lingering longer than expected. We realize that summer equals hot weather, but this has been pretty extreme.

I like to drink summertime beverages with lots of ice, so I am grateful that the ice maker on my refrigerator still works great. The salesperson, when we bought it, said that the ice maker units are usually the first to go. Now that I have been spoiled for several years, I will really cry the blues when that ice maker finally goes out.