Weather (or not)

Northeast Heat Wave

The northeastern US is in the grips of a heat wave…three days or more of 90° heat. Today will be day three. It probably wouldn’t be that bad, except the dew point has been in the mid to upper 60° range which is quite humid. And, it seems we could head for downright uncomfortable 70° dewpoints.

Rain

I heard on this morning’s news that northern California farmers are scrambling to bring in their crops fearing the forecasted rains could encourage fungus growths that would destroy crops in the fields.

Fires

Seems like there are wild fires all over the west and southwest. They sure could use some of the rain other parts of the country had received.

Floods

And who would ever have thought that Calgary, Alberta, Canada would have severe flooding? Certainly not me. Maybe I’m the only one who would not have thought that. Perhaps is just that here on the east coast of the lower 48, we don’t get much news of Canada’s weather…unless it becomes extreme.

Fire and Water

Keep a good thought for all those folks who have been devastated by the brutal lack of rain or the brutal abundance of rain.

Mother Nature

We know Mother Nature is upset with us for not doing more to prevent global warming. Remember how murky the skies used to look before auto emissions laws. Now look at the clear blue skies we enjoy. It is not arguable that auto-emissions was the cause of the murky skies. Now we have a larger problem. We must reduce carbon emissions across the board world-wide. Can we do it? Of course we can. Will we do it? Ah, the answer to that question scares me. 

Catching Up

3 tiny tomatoes

Bee Balm

Creeping petunia

The right side of my garden

Mini Cocks Comb and Bleeding Heart

Phlox

From another angle

Saffron and Lobelia

I haven’t posted anything since the end of March. I’ve thought about it many times, but for some reason I keep getting caught up in LIFE. Now I feel pressed to go back and remember all the “stuff” that has been going on that kept me so busy.

April

The month of April was taken up with attending two “health fests” and several breakfasts and lunches with friends.

The highlight of the month was my trip to the shoreline to visit my granddaughter, Jessica. We went to a local state park with Mason (a pony sized bull mastiff). Not sure who had the most fun!

May

This was a month to remember!

First my good friend, Elizabeth, fell and broke her hip. Since she doesn’t have family close by, I became the “go to person,” and I became her other “her” for the duration. I gladly stepped in to make sure her mail was taken in and her finances kept up to date by going to the bank for her and mailing things for her. Also, I was able to be the other set of eyes and ears when she was dealing with whatever medical staff. I’m pleased to report she is doing very well.

And, on top of that, I had a computer hard drive problem. Maybe problem isn’t a strong enough word. Disaster. That’s closer. My fault…as many times as I reminded myself to back-up my files…I didn’t…for 6 months.

My computer now has a new hard drive and, since I can’t be trusted to back up on my own, I am using Time Machine software that does it for me on a regular basis.

I have managed to reconstruct most of my email address book. I’m at the point where I hope certain people email me so I can capture their address. Yes, I could phone them, but after spending my entire working career as a secretary/customer service rep, I prefer leaving the phone to others.

Luckily I didn’t lose any photos; or an old address book that I had copied to my hard drive…who knows when. Fortunately, most of the addresses I wanted were in that old file.

And while all that was going on, I still had a life to live…doing things with family and friends, and going to free movies and lectures at the library. I also planted a flower garden in front of my condo. See the pictures at the top of this posting.

June

So here we are in June. Things are quieter now. Elizabeth has just about graduated fully to using a cane; my computer is pretty much back to what it was. I’m using the lull to rest and relax.

This has been a pretty lousy spring weather-wise. I haven’t been able to go bike riding very often. It’s either been too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet. I was able to go today…only the fourth bike ride this season. Saturday I will be going again. This time on a trail that goes from Connecticut up into Massachusetts.

One circle of friends consists of high school classmates. We are now starting to work on our 60^th anniversary reunion. For this reunion the invite will go out by email to those who have it and snail mail to those who don’t or who keep their address a closely guarded secret.

Make sure you get out Saturday night to get a glimpse of the Super Moon. Go to EarthSky.org for more information. That’s a great website for anyone interested in atmospheric and environmental science.

I guess that’s about it…at least for now. I’ll try not to let so much time elapse between posts.