Relief, but still summer

Looking down my driveway

The big July heat wave finally broke with the arrival of some dramatic lightning and thunder. One of my younger cats was terrified, hiding under the stairs and meowing piteously during the worst of the storm. I lost power briefly but suffered no damage.


Now weather has returned to normal summer temperatures, though it’s still too hot and too humid for my tastes. Even so, the weather is now cool enough that I could work outside in the early mornings, tossing out some old and crumbling plywood and doing some basic clean-up. Around the cabin not all is yet dried out, so I limit my work to areas that aren’t muddy or at least soft. Still, it felt good to accomplish something.

It’s hard for me to believe it, but summer is only one-third over. I feel as though I’ve been stuck in summer for way too long. I’m not a summer person. I’ve never been a summer person. Hot and humid weather keeps me from fully enjoying being in the woods. I love to hike up a long hill in cool weather, but when it’s hot I’m ready to quit before I’ve begun. Worse, there isn’t any interesting birding around until fall migration begins. This year has produced a plethora of tiger swallowtails and spice bush swallowtails, so that’s something, but even that can’t make up for it being so hot.

The evenings are especially uncomfortable, even when I’ m sitting still. Sunset doesn’t induce much cooling until the early morning hours. I hope this cooler weather will make for some slightly cooler evenings. I’d like to sit outside and watch the day come to a close some evening. Perhaps it would work better if I could lounge outside at 5 a.m., when it is cool. Lounging, however, is an activity best done at the end of the day. Lounging in the morning just seems wrong.