Early morning today was an absolute dream. We wandered about the front garden, the sun slanting through the trees, its early light warmth still soft enough to hug the garden gently. The air moved about us with a gentle breeze, already tinged with  underlying heat. Poking about here and there, Jackie and Jillie more or less emulated us pointing out to one another what had opened in the garden to greet us this morning. And then in we went, for breakfast.

Irving went down to his workshop cutting up a pine board for a neat little box he planned to put in place outside just beyond the sliding doors on the deck. We have an electric thermometer that gives us details of the weather, but he wanted a plain old-fashioned thermometer and planned to mount one -- a largish affair -- in the box. Like everything he does, he did a neat piece of work; not a perfectionist by any means but he knows how to handle tools and he enjoys working with wood.

It's cleaning day. Our guests left early to get on with their trip to Nova Scotia. A beautiful day to travel by road, but they'll be certain to meet some weather on the way. Nova Scotia is also in the throes of serious flooding, but they're not heading for Halifax, though they'll only be an hour's drive or so, at Truro.

The day got progressively more humid and hotter, the thermometer stopping just at 29C with an overheated sun. Finally I was finished with the cleaning, went upstairs to change my clothing, and began hearing thunder. When I came downstairs soon afterward I realized we'd had some heavy rain, and there were more dark clouds on the horizon, moving steadily onward.

 

Irving said we'd be fine, the rain had stopped, and off we went. Even in the forest the exhausting heat was prevalent, and as we delved a little deeper into the forest successive waves of heat-drenched air kept rising toward us. Above, we could see the thunderheads quickly moving ahead announcing their presence with loud, deep booms. We'll be fine, Irving said, and we kept going.

But I felt rain begin, and knew it wasn't just dripping from the forest canopy, so I turned around and said we're going back. And we did, in a bit of a hurry as the rain picked up. Walking back down the street to the house those same overheated waves of hot humidity kept washing over us, even while the rain began falling, actually cooling us, a not-unpleasant sensation.

With not far to go to reach home, we weren't completely drenched, just feeling quite comfortable as one does just after a cooling shower on a hot day. Jackie and Jillie showed no inclination whatever to linger in the garden, to enjoy the fresh cool rain; they made directly for the opened garage. It takes a bit longer for their haircoats to dry than it does for our bare skin and they don't appreciate being wet at any time, under any circumstances.