by smoky and hot
the northeast sky at 4:22 am today
this record breaking hot dry summer continues into its third month
with only a few wee drops of rain, how we need more!
a week of dirty brown skies like a fog sat over the city
from numerous forest fires around our province
I water the parched garden, read, watch movies on DVDs
’tis hard to do much work such as cleaning the house for visitors coming soon
or to find motivation to go into the studio in these dog days of summer
should we migrate to the far north like some birds?
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Added July 20th, as of tomorrow, watering restrictions have been tightened even further: Watering vegetable gardens, established flowers, trees and shrubs is still allowed, but only by hand using a spring-loaded shut-off nozzle.
We have not watered our lawns at all this summer and our car remains filthy. Time to put buckets in our showers, short as they are. While waiting for the hot water to come, I fill the indoor watering can in the kitchen sink. And save the dishwater! Pray or do a rain dance!
July 18, 2015 in Canada and BC by Marja-Leena
Oh, Marja-Leena, such heartfelt prose about a desperately sad situation. Hopefully this is just a temporary aberration that will be followed by normal patterns of rainfall and cooler weather. On the other hand we’re all getting versions of the reality of climate change.
Susan, some say this will the new normal. Oddly enough at present we now have greater restrictions on water usage in the southwest and Vancouver Island. Usually it’s the central interior that is the driest.
May I recommend a visit to the UK for a relief from the heat? This year so far we’ve had only a very few hot days and Scotland has been especially cool. How I long for a settled period of sun and heat … We’re never satisfied, are we.
Oh, that does sound so very tempting! I’ve never been to Scotland.
Have you heard that Canadians who head to the southern US states for winter are called ‘snowbirds’? I’d like to reverse the trend and go north but what would we call us ourselves?
Yes, horrible! I saw yesterday a video of how a landing airplane started many forest fires near Loa Angeles. Come here! It’s cool enough! (Actually: all of you start fast to work so that gas and other green house effective substances stop causing climate go worse, and weathers as well…)
I certainly have been thinking of cool and rainy Finland for a getaway! Yes, our governments here have to stop this awful oil business!
It seems worse when it is so unexpected, doesn’t it? If living in Egypt, or somewhere nearer the Equator such heat would be the season of lethargy, of drifting about gazing at motes of dust.
Margaret is right in saying that we have had little heat here in the UK, but we too in our little patch have had scant rain and so many plants look parched. Meanwhile in Perth in Scotland yesterday there were floods which raced through a town, pushing cars into a pile.
It was a long time ago that we abandoned pantheism, but perhaps we should have retained a mindfulness and respect. Now we have to learn to live on a world that increasingly consists of a heating pile of our own refuse. Hey ho.
I hope relief comes to you sometime soon.
Yes, Olga, I do remind myself of how it must feel to live in hot countries and I do not like it! In the wealthier nations of course many have air conditioning, as do many newer homes here too. Times like this I do wish we’d installed it when doing our major renovation years ago. Usually our hot period doesn’t last more than a few weeks. Water shortages are getting serious too. Relief soon, please!
Ah! Air conditioning just makes global warming worse! Spend the money on travelling North like the swallows – but in the end that would not do much for the greenhouse effect either. Insulation, and revised planting plans are what I’m thinking about.
I agree with you on the AC, Olga. We have a passive solar home but it is not ideally located being east/west facing, so we have too much sun coming inside the house in the summer. Our winter heating bills are low even though there is not much solar gain that time of year.
Then last year the property to the south of us was sold. The developer tore down everything including the enormous trees which were shading the south end of our solarium and the garden. Nice to have more sun in winter but wow, do we miss the shade this time of year. We hope the new owners will plant some trees. If this current weather is the new norm, we will have to invest heavily in special window shades in the solarium.
We are not big travellers and have cut that down even more (so no trips to UK or Finland). Husband cycles everywhere, even doing the shopping. The car gets used rarely, usually when we both go out together, or we visit family here in BC. So we do our small part on reducing greenhouse gases.
We had a day of intense smoke here. The wind brought it from a wildfire thirty miles or so away, and it was as if everything was on fire. It was hard to believe that our own community wasn’t burning. We had to stay inside with the windows closed, and it was just horrible. Frightening, too.
That’s over for us – for now, anyway. But we are worried about these days of heat and parched soil. Even the native plants that normally thrive all summer long are dying.
Oh, how awful! I’m glad no one was hurt in your area as have been in others. We had a week of that smoke haze. It’s all quite worrying.
Hot and smoky… I thought perhaps you were having a barbecue! Sorry you’re struggling though; we’ve finally had some proper rain at last and it’s quite welcome. Enjoy your visitors, remember, they’re coming to see you not to inspect the house!
Ha! We humans are the BBQ smokies ( a type of spicy sausage)! Some wind and ominous brown black clouds around this morning – hopefully with some much needed rain and cooling on the way!
Actually I want the house clean for me too as I cannot tolerate the ‘wildlife’ leaving cobwebs and dustbunnies everywhere that bring on my allergies (achoo!).
It’s been a little hotter here than usual and way too humid. But the air is good, and if I just take a break of an hour or two in my air conditioned office, I am fine. Our Vancouver relatives actually seem to be enjoying the unusual weather, but they are snowbirds who go to Mexico for the winter!
I hope this spell of unusual weather in Vancouver comes to an end, for your sake!
Thanks, Hattie! I think it’s my northern Finnish blood that dislikes the heat so much. Last night it hardly cooled at all with no breeze so I could not sleep.
Interesting that you find the humidity bothers you, a California girl!
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area,which has a nice climate,not too warm but bright and energizing.
Oh, it’s not as hot and humid there; now I understand! Hope it’s cooling a bit for you in Hawaii. We had a good rain yesterday, at last, and it felt so good! Not enough to counter our record three-month drought, but still appreciated. I did not have to water the garden.
Wish I could send you some of our frequent storms. Any time the temperature makes it past 80, we’re sure for a thunderstorm. And rain on many other days. It’s green and lush and damp here. Forget company, go visiting!
Marly, we usually get a thunderstorm after a heat wave but none yet in Vancouver! Unfortunately there has been lightning starting numerous forest fires around the province! Green and lush it is not.
I have just come in tired out from hand-watering just a part of the garden – makes one realize how convenient and efficient sprinklers are! Cloudy and a bit cooler today, so far, thankfully.
My nephew’s wedding is coming up so we will have a full house here! No can escape, nor want to.