The series of thunderstorms that rumbled and rolled through our area yesterday inundated the landscape to the point where we felt saturation was at its peak. After about six of these thunderstorms bolted through, there was a period of calm and cessation of rain. And then the temperature plunged, cooling off notably to the extent where when only hours earlier the thick atmosphere of humidity exacerbating the ambient heated environment gave over to a sharp chill and we actually felt cold.

 

Looking out the bedroom window from bed this morning it was clear that wildfire haze remained a problem. Apart from the smoky haze, dark-streaked clouds were scuttling through the sky. A high wind prevailed, forceful enough to sway the crowns of trees in the distance from the forested ravine. The forecast warned of a repeat of yesterday when we'd risked going out for our hike through the forest earlier than usual with Jackie and Jillie, and were able to evade rain.

 

There were even tantalizing and brief episodes of sun breaking through what looked like an impenetrable shield of stormy clouds. So we did a repeat of yesterday, cleaning up from breakfast and setting off for the ravine. In some areas the forest floor was drenched but not overwhelmingly so, despite the overnight rain that had topped the series of thunderstorms the day before. The creek was turbid and tumbling with rainwater but not excessively so.

 

The takeaway from that is a forest so parched it had eagerly absorbed all the steady rain events some of which seemed overwhelmingly violent in intensity. Yesterday's air quality was in the poor range, although not quite that of Sunday's when it was right off the scale, the amount of fine particulate matter from Quebec and Northern Ontario's wildfires topping the scale of hazardous air quality. Today, by comparison it was considered 'fair'. The atmosphere was so polluted a number of downtown public events were cancelled, like the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, and the summer solstice Indigenous Festival.

 

Our tramp through the ravine was uneventful and pleasant, and we came across no one else out on this day. Perhaps unwilling the risk of the potential of being caught out in a violent thunderstorm, or just feeling the effects of the extreme humidity that made the temperature of 24C seem more like 30C. The always-dusky atmosphere of the forest interior emphasized colour, aided by the remaining glistening effect of the night's rainfall. Negotiating the up- and down-hill was in fact made more footsure since the surface dampness on the grit of the hillside trails made for good boot gripping.

 

When we later set off for our weekly supermarket shopping, the sky opened briefly as a black cloud that sprawled over the landscape hesitated before moving on, but no thunderstorms had manifested to that point. They waited, suspensefully, for later in the afternoon. The morning newspaper celebrated the fact that the inflation index had been reduced -- but not affecting food prices. And we had evidence of that in the continuation of rising food prices we saw while shopping. Not so evident in most fresh fruits and vegetables and eggs and milk products which is a good thing.

 

Later, a little bit of time spent in the garden made me wonder at how adept vegetation is at withstanding punishing conditions like the pounding it sustained with those repeated thunderstorms. The flowers and the garden pots look this side of ragged, but when the sun emerges, the wind subsides and the rain quiets down, they'll once again take on their lush beauty and fullness of form to warrant their conceit and our admiration.