I like dragonflies, even if one of them is really plastic and I don't know which. This why I don't do self-portraits. I also blame hot weather, which has a strange effect on any enterprise that distracts one from it.
It is September, yet the pumphouse thermometer looks like this:
I tapped on it, tried to believe it is in error. After all, weather news predicted only 108F for today. Should I blame meteorologists? Even as my brains evaporate I know I can't expect people who study meteors to reliably predict Earth-weather. So I doodled a dragonfly and stuck it up top because I like dragonflies and they are even more confused by protracted summer than I. What
is summer anyway?
I will try to find some answers indoors.
Summer is Normagardenart, which I do like. Here is what she calls, "
Mikhail Baryshnibeet":
She also set an old jug on a ladder:
She painted our front fence. I like our front fence.
And she Normaphotoed the August sky--some of the clouds are on fire:
So I guess there are some things to like about summer --especially staying indoors and writing about it.
So what
is summer anyway? My theory --which meteorologists would doubtless verify if I went and asked them in this heat-- is the Perseid Meteor Shower (every August) impacts the Sun, diverts it and causes it to pass between Earth and the Moon. Sometimes, however, there are so many rocks up there, the whole operation gets stuck until they grind and melt away, which is why it's still 110 degrees in September. This is a sound theory, unencumbered by awkward logic and, as I intimated to
Pearl, earlier this evening, after cryotherapy my cranial remains are quite satisfied with it.
That's a wonderful sky photo. Greetings and best wishes!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Blogoratti! California gets some unusual Pacific clouds shredded by coastal mountains. The sunset makes a grand show of them. Will pass your compliment on to the photographer.
DeleteYou're north of the bay area? South? Either way, I saw Santa Rosa was 104 the other day. That's way too hot for this time of year there, although the hottest days I've seen in Portland were in the first week of Sept many years ago. Anyway......
ReplyDeleteHave you thought of cryogenic chamber therapy? I knew a couple of sports teams a few years ago that did it in Poland....said it was weird to the extreme, but seem to work, to shorten recovery times, lessen muscle pain and fatigue, etc. Seems a bit like 'woo therapy' as my oldest calls such stuff.
Oh, and that's a fine fence.
East. Mike, I suspect the true benefit of cryogenic chamber therapy is that it must feel incomparably good when it's over. I'd be willing to try it if not for the nagging suspicion that I might wake up 2000 years later and forget where my car was parked. My doctor is 20 years younger than I and can move really fast, or he never would have caught me with that aerosol. Must admit though, the alarming head-thing is now completely gone.
DeleteLove, as always, Normaphotos. Each and every one of them.
ReplyDeleteAnd dragon flies.
Loathe and detest the sweaty season and do my best to turn into a troll and only come out at night when the temperature has eased.
If the temperature hasn't eased I am a grumpy troll.
Thank you, EC. Your reaction to summer is close to mine. I suspect the seasons are differently arranged in our separate hemispheres to keep the whole world from getting grumpy at once.
Delete108 is too hot for September... we've cooled off some but it ain't right when it is in the mid-80s and the heat index is still 105... the humidity here has been terrible this summer but then we've received 20 inches of rain in the last month.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree. But 20 inches of rain in a month? I doubt we've had anything near that all year.
DeleteFor those of us in the Northern Hemisphere summer is that fragile time that appears after the last snowdrop melts and the first screaming blizzard hits. Around mid July we start to worry that it may be over already. It's never long enough for us but I think if I had to deal with temperatures like yours I would be praying for winter. You need to move somewhere where there are real seasons my friend.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I have heard reports from both hemispheres --northern and south--and decided I am in some sort of 3rd one that flickers in and out of reality.
DeleteOur summers are nowhere near as hot as yours, yet I dread them every year. In these parts nobody has central air conditioning - it's fans and the occasional window air conditioner that get us through the worst. I can't imagine how you cope with your extremes.
ReplyDeleteLove the Normagardenart, and yours, too. I discovered a huge dragonfly recently in a hot parking lot, upside down but with his legs waving. I picked him up and moved him to a grassy spot in the shade of a building. I've never been that close to one before. I hope he recovered.
It's a good thing we like summer, because they sure seem to hang around a lot longer than they used to. I am definitely looking forward to some cooler temperatures.
DeleteYour dragonfly sketch is terrific. It's so much fun to watch them flit around, especially the iridescent ones. They almost look magical.
Norma's work is terrific, too. Seems to me, you guys are a great match.
Happy weekend!
Jenny, that's a kind thing you did for the dragonfly. I have done the same with birds (collapsed from dehydration) --one traumatized when it rode a tree down that I had felled. Gave it a little water on a stick, which woke it. It screamed, rather like a child, and flew away.
DeleteSusan, thank you. I'll relay your compliment to Norma too. I strongly suspected we might make a good match over 45 years ago but will reserve judgement until I get to know her better.
DeleteI love those dragonflies, Geo - they're fantastic. I also really like the purple fence (is purple the correct color?).
ReplyDeleteI always remember September as being the hottest month in Southern California. We moved to Anaheim when I was eleven, and I remember that it was 115 degrees on the first day of school. That was before schools were air-conditioned.
Thanks, Jon! I asked Norma what color the fence is and she said it's redwood stain that sat in the barn several years. I think it looks purple too. As to old school buildings, yes I remember those banks of windows --and those heavy curtains we would close for movies and atomic bomb drills.
DeleteI hope I didn't sound insulting when I said the fence looks purple. I do like the color (perhaps redwood stain improves with age?). That's an enormous fence to tackle. I hope Norma didn't paint it in the summer heat
DeleteYour fence looks just like the one I had around my house in Texas. I bought several cans of stain for it, but -despite my noble intentions - I never got around to painting it.
Jon, you never sound insulting. I suspect the photo color is deepened by the pall of smoke we've had filtering valley sunlight since early August. It even makes the air look yellow-brown. Right now there's a huge fire around Jackson, 50 miles east to join others still burning to the north and south. Norma's pretty good about confining projects to the cool morning but sometimes I have to persuade her to take breaks.
DeleteI was about to give you a clever explanation of the seasons but my computer froze and I had to reset it. Apparently I stumbled onto a truth that should not be known by the masses. Therefore I will simply say that Mikhail Baryshnibeet is absolutely genius.
ReplyDeleteEmma, I'm having the same problem with Internet Explorer but Firefox works fine. It's an enigma. Will relay Barysnibeet compliment to Norma. Most kind.
DeleteIt was Firefox that got me. I seldom use Explorer any more.
DeleteCommiserations! Your weather forecast was a whole 2deg.F in error, or 1deg.C, give or take a fraction. That's one heck of a long fence to paint, and the artistry is superb! Congrats to Norma.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Tom. That stretch of fence, which fronts a road that has got increasingly busy over the past 35 years, is 28 meters long. I don't know where she gets the energy to do stuff like that.
DeleteI wrote a comment this morning, but it seems it never went through. My iPad has been slow in delivering messages lately, so I might have to default to USPS.
ReplyDeleteI do hope "the cool" in CA will return and water will flow again. It is a very worrisome thing to us also. What starts in CA, eventually comes east.
Arleen, your hope is my hope too.
DeleteMikhail has a natural feel for the beet, that's why he dances so well :-)
ReplyDeleteThe air here is getting cooler, except in the polytunnel.
I have a dragonfly tattoo, it's been perched on my shoulder for 28 years now, a fine companion.
Wishing you soothing breezes xx
Oh yes, interpretive choreography was much influenced by the beet generation. I'm afraid an inversion layer has capped our valley into a natural polytunnel but we hope soon to follow England into autumn --and soothing breezes.
DeleteThat is indeed a fine fence of lovely color. Mikhail makes be sad about the beet salads we so enjoy. The clouds of fire is magnificent and if only we could transport the terrible Rough Fire near Kings Canyon to the sky. And can enough dragonflies in transit send a cooling breeze?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tom. All we can do right now is try not to breathe too deeply outdoors but I sure like your dragonfly idea. Who knows what we can accomplish if we collect enough of them?
DeleteYou have my sympathy, Geo! I can't stand the heat. At least in Colorado, we usually don't have humidity. I remember hot, hot Septembers in Garden Grove in the 1970s, quite a shock after cold Newfoundland. Norma's "Mikhail Baryshnibeet" is creative and funny, and I always enjoy her Normaphotos. I can't imagine how she painted that huge fence in all the heat!
ReplyDeleteI'll remember your theory about summer the next time the Perseid Meteor Shower comes around. Maybe laughter will help me stay awake as I scour the sky for falling stars!
Loved the dragonfly Geodoodle. You have such a delicate touch as an artist. I have a blogging friend in France who is a magnificent photographer. She usually photographs birds, but she also does dragonflies. Here's a link to one of her dragonfly posts, if you're interested: http://1000-pattes.blogspot.ca/2015/07/libellules-en-midi-pyrenees.html
Have a cooler week!
Thank you Fundy Blue! I did visit the blog of Noushka (un esprit libre in the south of France) and was much impressed. Her work is magnificent. As to Norma, her energy astonishes me. She goes about her projects with quiet determination and doesn't seem to hurry --but completes them with supernatural swiftness. I met her 48 years ago and still never get her limits.
DeleteDragonflies are awesome. Among other things, they eat mosquitoes. Praise be!
ReplyDeleteBetween dragonflies and cliff swallows we have been little bothered by mosquitoes this year. Most praiseworthy!
DeleteI really like dragonflies, and living in a big city like Montreal I don't get to see them often. I find them beautiful and fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI like them too, few creatures can resemble storybook faeries and helicopters at the same time.
DeleteIt's nice to experience the uplifting feeling of a fall breeze these days, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteTake good care, Geo.
Today's sky and breeze was exquisite, Robyn. I'll take especially good care --you too, and thanks.
DeleteDragonflies skimming over the water is the most beautiful sight.
ReplyDeleteTruly magical. I too love watching them.
Delete