Summertime

Summer. Not my favorite season. Too hot, saying it's "warm" just doesn't do it justice. I know, I should not complain. I've said that before; Oklahoma and Texas are MUCH hotter, and I lived in Oklahoma for about 37 years. Even California can be toasty...depending on where in California you are. The east side of the Bay got plenty warm, but not as warm as Redding, for example. So it's summer in Oregon and we've hit 102...once. I'm probably going to jinx it, but as summers go, this one has been ok. Wonderful compared to last summer where we were above 100 in June. Now we're closing in on August and our experience so far is that trees begin to take on touches of fall by mid-August. Fall lasts well into November and the great color is around for at least a couple of months.

Ah, but the subject is summertime...so here's a doff of the cap to dahlias and crape myrtles, lavender and hibiscus, cat mint and fuschias. Color. Ah, the blooms of the magnolia and the rainbow of colors in the roses of the Rose City. Tiny red crab apples beckon the birds. It's clearer days for views of Mt. Hood, where the snows are fading and the granite gray fills the sky. It's a view of Mt. St. Helens, with Rainier peeking around far behind. It's sunsets full of orange, purple, pink and red...as low clouds flow through the fading light. Many is the evening we stand in the back yard and just watch the sky change colors.

So, summer could be much worse. Even this morning you can sit out and read the paper, listen to the birds and squirrels chatter, water the garden. Color. It's everywhere...