It's not the heat, but the humidity. Pity anyone having to work out-of-doors in this oppressive heat. We're groaning at 30C, just can't wrap our minds around Britain's (and the Continent's) 40C. Today, some relief, but it just doesn't feel like it, mostly because of the continuing high humidity. And the wind, what a colossal wind. When it's so searingly hot you don't really feel much like eating anything 'heavy'. Still, Irving did the barbecue yesterday, used the side burner on our old barbecue to do fried potato rounds, and barbecued chicken legs for dinner. It was fine alongside the sweet-and-sour crunch of the broccoli salad.

 

Jackie and Jillie rendered their complete approval. A left-over leg will enhance their dinner tonight. They know the taste, it was their evening treat yesterday. Today we'll have wraps filled with beans, vegetables and cheese. They'd eat that too if they could, but they'll have their own salad. 

Irving decided to move things around a bit yesterday. He does that from time to time, featuring his favoured pieces in different areas of the house, so they leap to his notice whereas if they stay in the same place for too long they tend not to be 'seen'. His new treasure, the Arita Japanese vase, was one of the items moved yesterday, though its placement in the family room has hardly gone stale yet. It sits now in a corner of the foyer, next to the living room door. Its decoration is straight out of The Tale of Genji.

 

We decided we wouldn't go out first thing this morning for our ravine hike. For one thing, it was raining. Not heavily, but we thought we'd wait it out. It's laundry day and I've been busy with that, among other things. By the time we set out in early afternoon for our walk through the forest it felt as hot as yesterday with the fiery tongue of the wind giving no relief. Once in the forest, though, a different story.

 

The heat and overcast conditions have affected most of the wildflowers; they've gone on strike and shut down, but for the thimbleberry blossoms. We anticipated that it could begin raining again at any time but since it was so hot (and by then the wind began to feel pretty good) it didn't seem to matter. The wind lashing itself through the forest canopy was loud and we also heard a small plane go by overhead. And then, suddenly it was still and eerily dark. A kind of gloom set in.

 

We saw something a little different on the forest floor seated among the desiccated leaf mass of last fall and focused on it. As we approached it moved in little leaps further into the interior, well off the trail, confirming its identify. It isn't often we see toads in the ravine, and this was a fair-sized one. And that's a funny thing about Jackie and Jillie; they never seem to take notice of amphibians or reptiles, but if it's a furry creature like themselves, they're instantly alert and prepared to challenge its presence.

 

Once again as we passed some jewelweed colonies and found there were a few flowers visible, and like yesterday I took photographs, but those tiny orchid-like flowers don't photograph well. If they're in sunlight and you can snap a silhouette you might get a good photo, otherwise the flowers come out somewhat fuzzily; my camera isn't fond of replicating yellows and oranges distinctly.

Just as we climbed to street level and were approaching the road, leaving the forest, thunder rumbled. The wind increased its tempo, and light rain began to fall. We ambled down the street to our house as the rain picked up. When we approached the driveway and Irving raised the garage door, rain pelted down and Jillie made directly for the shelter of the garage. Jackie, not quite so averse to rain as his sister, took his time, accompanying me briefly around the garden before we all headed for the house thinking ourselves pretty fortunate.