Welcome to summer (shiver)

Today is the solstice, officially the first day of summer.

This morning it was 38F outside.

We've had the heater running in the house for the past three mornings.

Any questions?

A break from the heat

It has been a difficult summer.

It has been so achingly, bakingly hot for weeks on end. I don't do well in heat.

I'm eternally grateful to the people we bought this house from, because they left behind an air conditioner. We've been using it daily.

We haven't had an air conditioner in nearly 30 years. I grow weary of the din it makes and it fills me with guilt to use it (go figure), but it's made this summer tolerable and we thank God for it.

The heat has also put the kibosh on many of the outdoor projects we'd hoped to accomplish this summer. If readers wonder why I haven't posted more DIY projects posts, that's why. We have to keep reminding ourselves to be patient.

But this week we anticipated a break in the weather.

Rain! A chance at rain!

As the heat continued (that 107F temp took place last Friday), we monitored the weather like crazy people, praying we would get some of this celestial largess.

Older Daughter came up for a visit on Saturday, and that evening we took Mr. Darcy for a walk after sunset. It was hot, smoky (from wildfires), and insanely humid. Except for the smoke, Older Daughter said it reminded her of the sauna-like summers in New Jersey, where she worked for four years as a nanny.

Sunday morning dawned, if anything, even more humid. We don't normally get humidity like this. The west is known for its dry heat, not its humid heat.

Sunday's weather report kept teasing us with imminent moisture....

....and then backing down. Storms cells kept dodging around us. It wasn't until late afternoon that we hit the jackpot. And what a jackpot it was!

Don and I sat out on the deck and just reveled in the sounds and smells of the rain. The temperatures also dropped into the high 70s. We were able to turn off the air conditioner and open up the house.

Here's roof runoff coming out of the gutter downspout.

We had what I call a "string of pearls" – a line of individual storm cells passing over. The first one passed, leaving puddles in the driveway....

...and then another one headed our way. We leashed up Mr. Darcy, took umbrellas, and walked him in the pounding rain. It was lovely.

Even better, we learned a nearby wildfire got over an inch of rain dumped on it. Woot!

This morning it's still very humid, and unsurprisingly we had fog everywhere.

During our morning walk, Mr. Darcy left footprints on the gravel road.

The roadside grasses were still bent over from the deluge...

...and all the plants looked newly washed and grateful.

Even the funnel spider webs looked cleaner.

Mr. Darcy took advantage of puddles, because of course water in road puddles tastes so much better than the clean fresh water in his bowl at home.

We have a few more hot days ahead of us, and then temps are slated to drop into the 70s.

At last.

Wildflower bonanza

Now that we seem to have broken the back of winter (this has been, what, the second-coldest June on record or something?)...

...we're seeing wildflowers blooming in abundance. I took advantage of a rare sunny day last week and photographed some.

Here's my inventory.

Last-gasp holdouts of arrowleaf balsam root. These are definitely early spring flowers, so their time has come and gone.

Also a few last-gasp arnica, another early spring wildflower.

Daisies. Early summer is daisy season around here. I love this flower so much I had it in my wedding bouquet.

Clover.

Lots of clover.

Sheep sorrel (genus Rumex).

Ninebark. This time of year we have frothy bushes everywhere. Very lovely.

Triteleia, sometimes called Fool's Onion.

Wild roses. They smell as sweet as they look.

Honeysuckle.

Tufted elk weed.

This is neither groundsel (note the leaves) nor St. John's wort (note the flowers). My flower ID books are packed away. Thoughts?

Stonecrop.

Orange hawkweed, prettier cousin to the much-loathed invasive yellow hawkweed.

Snowberry.

Salsify.

Nine-leafed biscuit root.

Pearly everlasting, not quite fully bloomed yet.

(Its leaves.)

Lupine.

Wild strawberry.

Big-leaf avens.

Thimbleberry. This relative of the raspberry is perfectly edible, but very bland.

Wild mustard.

Vetch.

Yarrow.

Western blue flax.

Phlox.

Creeping buttercup. Lovely to look at in the forest, but NOT something I like in the garden. It can be very aggressive.

So that's our wildflower bonanza so far. Next to bloom will be the beautiful oceanspray. Yep, we're living in paradise.