Saturday, 1 August 2026
A drippy overnight rain left diamonds on my mesh basil deer-protector.
Late morning, we visited Art on the Lake…saw beautiful artisanal pieces, heard some music in passing, and bought nothing, not even an elephant ear. Our parking place was kinda-sorta under this giant maple.
Friday, 31 July 2026
Today was about coping with the weather. It began warm and sticky, and became, tahdah, hot and sticky. The audio track was fan-whir. Finally, it rained, which cooled everything a bit. The humidity remains, however, and the fan noise is relocated upstairs.
Monday, 27 July 2026
The morning began with foggy overcast, if we can use that phrase.
By late morning, the overcast lifted a bit, yet remained.
A very light rain chased (not really, just a more poetic phrasing) me off the beach. Later, it cleared and got sunny. Then, it rained again. Now, it’s overcast again. The plants really need the precipitation, so I’m okay with it.
Saturday, 25 July 2026
We arrived at the cottage just before 5pm, after a straightforward drive up from Ohio, and only a dozen-minute delay at the bridge-crossing toll booth.
One of the crucial cottage-opening activities is to air out the place, which is easier upstairs with a fan. The big bedroom has a pair of under-eaves windows facing south, one shown here, and a pair of higher windows in the end wall. It’s not an optimal flow-through situation, but a fan does help to make it work.
My apps indicate it may get down to 62°F overnight, which sounds impossible to Atlanta-in-July-oriented ears. Hallelujah.
Quick note: smoke-at-ground-level predictions on airquality.weather.gov suggest we’re fine for a while here…yay.
Friday, 17 July 2026
We drove to Athens to enjoy family company and a lovely luncheon. This caprese salad is made with basil from their garden—knock-out good!
On our return, we approached this looming cloud, and eventually motored through a deluge…
…and, on the other side, by the time we reached our neighborhood: dry roads.
Thursday, 9 July 2026
The low-angle light was especially pretty this morning.
Then, taaah-daaah, we got on the road (OTR). The “marine” layer was thick-ish at The Bridge, and, also, we understand from others who treked north, along Lake Superior at Grand Marais. Since it was present through mid-day, and the sun had long been out, I’d say that’s a persistent layer.
We drove in and out of rain zones….
We even saw a rainbow. Apologies for the snap, but you know they don’t last. I tried to get another shot, and the color had become almost imperceptible.
Ohio has upgraded rest areas along I-75 to have almost lounge areas and museum displays in them.. Outside, there’re signs about native plants, mostly trees, but this is a showy not-tree I don’t remember seeing before (my ignorance is vast). Also, there’s a loop to stroll with many signs to study, I think part of Dolly Parton’s books-for-kids-under-five outreach program somehow (didn’t take the time to walk it—next time?).
Wednesday, 8 July 2026
This was an hour after sunrise, and the sky portends precipitation. And, indeed, we did get some rain, enough to call it rain, but no storm, just dripping. Then, ta-dah, clearing for the rest of the day.
I recall sweet peas blooming all around the cottage, mixed in the orchard grasses. Today, only a few are left. Maybe they did better when the grasses were cut by this time? Dunno. This one’s hanging with a yellow goatsbeard gone to seed, and perhaps another that has already had its seeds blown away.
Otherwise, we had a chore-filled day I really do not want to detail. Onward.
Monday, 29 June 2026
The weather flip-flopped all day. This was at 6:18am. Dry, with strange orange layer along the horizon to the north, and solid cloud-cover above.
By 10am, it was pouring, with thunder and lightning to keep us alert. That’s how the day went. Right now, it’s fading off a rain/thunder/lightning phase.
I’m glad to have the rain, although less excited about the accompanying audio track.
Sunday, 21 June 2026
You can look at the early sun…
…and you can turn around and see what it’s lighting up.
Here’s late-day low-angle sun backlighting a rhubarb leaf.
It’s only right to celebrate the sun on the longest day of the year.
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
The morning fog thickened after I took this, but I was bizzzeeee inside, so you’ll have to imagine what a later shot would have been like.
I like that the forget-me-nots have flowers on the ends and what the botanical types describe as tulip-shaped pods that contain the seeds along the stems. Anyway, I enjoy the flowers with the pods…togetherness?