Tuesday, June 21, 2011

SUMMER BEGINS

All decked out in summer colors, as if celebrating the passing solstice, this common daylily—along with a few dozen others—was in bloom this morning at the top of the driveway hill. 

Summer officially began hereabouts about three hours ago. According to the almanac, at 1:16 p.m. EDT, to be more or less exact. How, you might wonder, can "exact" not be exactly exact? Well, the farther west you live in your particular time zone, the later events such as sunrise and sunset occur. I think this also applies to the moment of the solstice—"think" being my out in case I'm wrong. If true, then the solstice occurred here about 2:02 p.m. EDT. 

Either way, it is now summer…and feels like it, being a sweltering 88˚F and seriously muggy. Of course it barely managed 70˚F yesterday, and then only for an hour or two, and was chilly and pouring rain the rest of the time. All of which is why I'm not planting stuff. I tried, several times—but while I can dig the holes, I can't fill in around them or prepare the beds beforehand because my piles of topsoil, though compost-augmented, are still sopping wet heaps of muddy lumps. It's going to take at least another day of drying out before I can break the dirt apart into particles fine enough to do a good job of properly seating my plants in their new homes.

Unfortunately, even as I now type this post, the sky is heavily overcast and growing darker by the minute. Thunder is rumbling all around, coming closer. Muggy turned to a suffocating clammy before the wind kicked up a minute ago—and now the air feels wet and the temperature is dropping. The weather prognosticators say rain tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night, and possibly Thursday and Thursday night, as well.

I don't know why any of this should surprise me…
———————

8 comments:

AfromTO said...

Orange day lilies along a driveway-some of my favourite wild clusters-such a welcome to arriving guests-beautiful shot.

Grizz………… said...

AfromTO…

I can't take credit for putting them there…though they were all but trampled and choked out when we moved here. Now, we've nurtured them into a pretty nice patch—but for whatever reason, mine always bloom a couple of weeks later than everyone else's.

Bernie said...

Happy first day of summer to you my friend. We have not had any heat waves yet but we have been having much needed rain the past few days. I am ready for the sunshine.......:-)Hugs

Grizz………… said...

Bernie…

Cloudy and looking like rain here again this morning—though warm. We've already had several days above the 90˚F mark, but then it drops back the the 60s, 50s, even 40s! A real problem for those with sinus issues. But that's typical Ohio spring weather. Now that summer is here, it ought to turn warm/hot and stay that way, with only scattered rains.

Anyway, happy summer to you, too. Take care.

Gail said...

HI GRIZZ- abd 'Happy Summer' did you balance an egg on its end yesterday? We did - it is only possible twice a year on June and December 2st. Do you remember me posting pics about it last year? And your weather, once again, is just like ours. Today is muggy and rainy and yucky. We will do inside stuff.
Love to you
Gail
peace.....

Grizz………… said...

Gail…

[Sorry to be so slow in replying…I just got in.]

Hey, happy summer to you, too. And no, confound it! I didn't remember to try balancing an egg on its end. But I've stuck a reminder in my Google calendar and I bet I remember the next time.

It was hot and sunny (mostly) here today, and really windy. Haven't even looked as to tomorrow's weather prediction…figure I'll know it when I see it.

Best, as always…

The Weaver of Grass said...

Rarely do the words English and Summer go together in the same sentence Grizz. But when they do then I can assure you it is sublime. But not this week.

Grizz………… said...

Weaver…

Hasn't been summer-like here this past week, either—and certainly not since its actual arrival. Maybe next week…