Musings

Dusk with goldenrod, 9:13pm.

Sky over the lake to the east, 10:07pm.

South sky, 10:11pm.

Posted at 10:32 PM | Comments Off on Night lights

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

There are rumors that the smoke-murk will lift tomorrow. I can’t wait.

Next, I’ll be begging for rain; it’s darned dry out.

Posted at 10:01 PM | Comments Off on Bluff view

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)

We stopped at a rest area with well-tended flower beds, and I took over a dozen shots. Looking through them, I realized all were of yellow or yellow-orange specimens, except for two rather desiccated white daisies. Am I part bee?

When we crossed the bridge, ever a hugely important landmark when connecting two immense peninsulas, the sky looked strange. I figured there were smoke particles in the mix with humid air, but never smelled it…which I’m happy about.

I took a lake-bath about 8pm, to sluice off the sweat and bring my temperature down after doing assorted cottage-opening chores in the heat and humidity. Now the temp’s dropped to 72° and it feels heavenly. The humidity is down to 82, but it’ll be picking up through the night, to decrease again when the sun arrives. After tomorrow’s heat (outrageous high of 90°F predicted), the highs are supposed to moderate. I sure hope so.

Posted at 10:03 PM | Comments Off on Happy we’ve arrived

I walked around the corner to a local shop to do an errand, and today’s gully-washer hit! This was the view out into the back parking lot.

It wasn’t all bad, because I waited in a bookstore!

When I left, it hadn’t totally quit raining, but I had a broad-brimmed sunhat on so I was (largely) covered.

Posted at 8:59 PM | Comments Off on Short rain event

We endured one of those fast gulley-washers this afternoon; it lasted maybe three minutes, of total deluge.

Posted at 9:30 PM | Comments Off on Well-watered

Just before dark, thunder boomed and moisture descended. This photo was from the earliest moments of The Arrival.

I’m not in a desert by any means, yet this event made me think about Gary Nabhan’s slim volume The Desert Smells Like Rain (1982). The title is from an observation by a Tohono O’odham child, a native of the Sonoran Desert, as I recall. [Link to read more about the O’odham by the O’odham.]

Posted at 10:12 PM | Comments Off on I do not know how to pronounce O’odham