Musings

People in places with changeable weather often pay special attention to the changes. The striking red sunrise reflects the smokiness, although the AQI was below 50 for part of yesterday, today: higher. And hot, hot overnight, whew, so that the downstairs only got down to 78°F even at dawn. Sticky. And we smelled smoke off and on all morning.

Around two, rain came in ushered by a moderate wind, so we hustled about to close windows. Fortunately, the temp dropped so that by 6pm it was down to 70°F on the front porch (!!!). Thankfully, now it’s quite pleasant—the humidity is lurking around 82%, and the AQI has dropped to the low 50s.

Yup. Lots of weather variation….

Posted at 8:46 PM | 2 Comments »

The before-the-sun sky seemed a bit clearer, yet still slightly obscured by the Sky-Smoke deity.

We took a wee drive north to see if the Lake Superior shore breeze would seem even clearer. It did, a bit.

Posted at 8:51 PM | Comments Off on Improvement

No humans on the beach today, until I went for my late afternoon lake-bath. I’m guessing these are pelican tracks; they’ve been sighted, but not by me.

Great fun dining with the neighbors. Short Stuff created her own midden of mostly brown rice.

Posted at 8:36 PM | Comments Off on Odd bits

I took a morning stroll down to the beach, because: well, it’s there, and pretty, and interesting, and fine. En route, I found a flitting monarch, just where you’d expect it to be.

At the beach, by the dock, I was surprised to see this guy/gal. I’d seen only a few living ones, and the parts I’ve seen (for years?) have been of much smaller specimens. This one was perhaps 15cm, tail to tips of the claws…and those of lovely blue. You don’t see much blue in critters, no?

Posted at 7:09 PM | Comments Off on Were they posing?

I went for my lake-bath as the sun was dropping low, here behind the treeline. BTW, those stones were obscured by sand a week ago…the lake, she recreates the shore constantly.

Posted at 8:54 PM | 2 Comments »

All distant views throughout the day were tinged with smokeaze, that is, smoke haze (and thus the AQI suggested lesser activities, with little deep breathing). This photo, however, is just plain out of focus, so not honoring the sweet peas.

Posted at 8:04 PM | Comments Off on Defocused

Another hot day, after a not-so-cool overnight, so I sure enjoyed my lake bath, today rather late, around 8pm, when the lake was quiet, as you can see. Tonight’s supposed to be cooler, whew!, and tomorrow the high will somewhat more reasonable…all of, get this: a mere 78°F.

Hmm, I’d better find a blanket, a light one, mind you, but still: a blanket.

Posted at 9:40 PM | Comments Off on Bye-bye heat (for now)

I left my late-day swim duds on the line overnight. Special morning with the dew-fog (which kept the duds over-moist). I’m calling this shot Line Art. 🤣

Elsewhere, this thistle is festooned with spider webs, a big one on the right, and a small one on top. I really do not want the thistle seeds to disperse (they’re noxious weeds!); tomorrow morning, if I get out when it’s still cool, these will become compost or otherwise be…eliminated…from the gene pool.

Again, I took a late-day lake-bath, hence the shadiness in this shot. This feather truly is floating on top of the water, although it looks like it’s airborne and above the surface.

Posted at 8:53 PM | Comments Off on Early and late, sampled

I always get a bit excited to see this long-view of the mountains, even though the powerlines-strung-with-orange-caution-balls disrupts the skyscape, as it signals that we’re leaving the Piedmont…in short: we’re On The Road!

Not pretty enough? Here’re some asters at dusk three states to the north.

Posted at 9:03 PM | Comments Off on Progress

Every once in a while, I visit the BBC/Scotland webpage (link), and scroll down to find a selection of readers’ pictures from the week. Some are artistry in heightened saturation, some are long-lens captures (puffins are a favorite), a few are closer to snapshots, and some are of fabulous sunlight or sky moments. The ones I linger on the most tend to be patterns in nature. This is a mediocre example, but you get the idea.

Posted at 9:41 PM | Comments Off on Grass = green