Days like today make me think of my grandparents, Alfred and Edna Judd: 

You see, today is hot outside.  Which makes me think of my grandparents, and wonder how on earth they stood the heat.   

My grandpa was a farmer, with property in southern Arizona.  Read: hot.  My grandpa was also modest.  Do you see the white, long sleeved collared shirt that he is wearing in this photo (taken, I think, within days of his elopement with my grandma- she was age 16!  But check out how handsome my grandpa is: can you blame her?  Anyway, I digress...)  From what I've been told, my grandpa wore long sleeved cotton shirts while working his Arizona farm and, at most, he would roll up his shirt sleeves.  My memories of my grandpa, who died when I was a child, were of him in long sleeves.   My question now is:  how on EARTH did anyone in an Arizona summer, working outside, survive in long sleeves??? 

I sure wish they were around to ask such questions.  I look at this photo and, as an adult, can completely relate to what I think their lives were like.  But I have so many questions.  They lost a child at age 7- how did they keep on living, ever smile again?  At times, they lived in poverty- how did they deal with those frustrations?  It would be such an interesting thing to sit them down and speak to them one on one, as adults.  It would take a month to answer all of my questions.