New England Summer

Photos
All from Fort Hill on Cape Cod.
Top - looking north. Click on photos to enlarge. On this one the white building in the distance (to the right of the man standing at the kiosk) is on Coast Guard Beach in Eastham.
Bottom left - looking south
Bottom right - looking east

Relief from the heat
The heat wave finally broke and we shut the A/C off last night. It’s cool—in the low 70s—but the dew point is 69° giving a relative humidity close to 100%. I am not complaining. It is so good to not need the A/C. What we have now is like living (or vacationing) right on the ocean. Everything is damp with no hope of drying out any time soon. And so goes a summer in coastal New England. Even though I’m 50 miles inland, Connecticut is so small the whole state is pretty much considered “coastal.” Right now we are having a monsoonal downpour that looks (on weather radar) like it’s going to last a while.

Can’t ride
I’m having a real problem trying to find bike-riding time. I need cooperative weather. A chance of showers is no problem. A chance of thunder and lightening is! I was caught in a thunder storm recently and thought I was safely grounded on my two tires. Not so. We need to be in a house with wiring and plumbing or in a car (an enclosed environment) with four tires on the ground and hands off any metal parts.

When you’re bike riding, you don’t always have any of the above safe options. All you have is a prayer, so use it.

Eatin’ good
We have been enjoying fresh veggies from the local farm stands. Finding the best corn is trial and error, but I have found the best of three different stands and it’s the one closest to my house. As a matter of fact, it’s at the end of the street I grew up on. I have to go to the other side of town in order to get fresh tomatoes, cukes, summer squash and zucchini. This farm also has farm fresh eggs. I know they are fresh because I was with a friend on day and the lady of the farm went out to the chicken coop in order to get more eggs. These are free-range chickens and the eggs are so much better than what you get in the store. Same price or less depending on where and how you shop. There is a stand closer to me but they are so expensive. If their veggies were vastly superior to everyone else that would be one thing, but not when they are the same quality, or as in the case of corn, not as good.

Southern peaches are also in the grocery stores now. They are firm and juicy. I cut up half a peach in my morning hot Quinoa flakes…then I eat the other half just so I won’t have to put it in the fridge. Sorry, California, your peaches are dry. Not good.