June 29, 2021 ~ Tuesday (the day after a record-breaking heat wave in the NW)
October has arrived, once again. At least, tonight’s cooler temps remind me of some early autumnal evening. And, for once, I’m okay with that.
For the past four days the NW has endured an historic heatwave that culminated in shattered records and a weekend for the history books. Meteorologically speaking, at least.
If I had a lobster on my shoulder, as this blog states, it would have been cooked and I would have eaten it. And maybe the heat of the weekend would have been more tolerable after cooked lobster with gallons of melted butter! Alas, no lobster!
The whole NW was HOT … including this island. Friday we topped 90 … Sat 91 … Sun 94 … and Monday was 100. The humidity was high and the heat index was higher. Stifling is the word used by most of my neighbors to describe yesterday when the air was stagnant and nary a whisper of a breeze could be found. I was half roasted in the second floor bedroom and found it fairly impossible to sleep. At 1am I was grumbling. Around 3am the marine air moved in and I pulled up the comforter. Bliss.
I like heat. I like sun. But, when you live in an area that is usually still in the 60s in late June (and for that reason is not so affectionately nick-named Junuary) … and, all of a sudden, it is 30+ degrees hotter than normal … it’s quite something. Seattlites steamed through 107 degrees. Portlanders sweltered at 116. On the island, in my neck of the woods, we were hotter than hot. At one point, I was too hot to talk. Now, that’s saying something. Or in my case, at that moment – not!
At this moment, the guest cavalier is sleeping on the deck – I can see her fur ruffling in the night’s breeze. My new big baby is asleep on the den rug. The guest terrier is in the yard barking (need to get that one in!) … and Bea is licking my late-night yogurt bowl. What a difference a day/night makes. By this time last night, I had given all dogs 3 cool baths (each) and myself 3 cold showers. The dogs were restless and bug-eyed and their tongues nearly reached the floor – even after the baths. I was hoping I didn’t look the same. A few garments less and my mom and I would have fit into any nudist colony. This house is built with cinder blocks and it holds the heat in … and man, did it hold the heat in! After four days of uber high temps – it was pretty unbearable!
And then the air changed and it was liveable, again.
Tonight I’ve got on a 3/4 sleeve top/capris … at about 4pm that replaced my tank top as the cool air continued to come ashore. I just peeled off the sweatshirt I had on while I walked the cliff road. I needed it when I left … tied it around my waist when I was returning. Walking warmed me even though the winds whipped up the water and white caps dotted the surface. I left when the sky was still light and walked through my gate as the sky was that deep cornflower blue – somewhere between Wedgewood and cobalt. For whatever reason, it reminded me of Danish china.
I passed a 6″ slug on my way home – all chocolate brown and slimy. He was lovely! Further along, I passed by a cornucopia of more chocolate brown slugs (actually, that’s what a group of them is called!) … and I wondered if they were all okay – or if one of them was dead. I’m not sure – but I didn’t want to poke any of them! Were the others gathering around one of them, paying their respects? Or were they gathered around him to EAT him? I didn’t really want to hang around (hours) to find the answer to those questions. I’m pretending they were saying their fare-thee-wells or listening to an elder … kind of like a Tedtalk – slugfest style.
It was hazy tonight – pink cotton candy sky melted into a line of cantaloupe before dipping into the water. I’m not crazy about cotton candy – but it’s magical … don’t you think? And while I’m not crazy about it, what’s not to like about spun sugar that is wispy and light, that comes in a rainbow of pastel colors and melts on your tongue?
As I walked home, I wished I had one of the ice cream cones of my childhood. We didn’t “go out” often for ice cream – but when we did, we’d go to Cock Robin. It was always a sweltering summer night (it was only open in the summer) … and their scoop didn’t profer the typical spherical ice cream scoops … no, this place’s scooper was cube shaped. So geometric and cool! I’d always get a sugar cone … and (somehow) we were allowed a triple decker! I wonder, now, what those cones cost! I’d always get the same … orange sherbet, lime sherbet and grape sherbet – each cube stacked neatly atop the other – in random order … unless we specified which one we wanted on the bottom. Tonight’s sunset reminded me of that cone … with the orange sherbet on the bottom.
Wherever you live – I hope you have weathered the weather as well as you could have. It was so hot that we are still recuperating and at least for a while, October’s coolness is fine by me.