I made the above butterfly photo just before noon yesterday. At the time the temperature was already 90˚F. Being your basic dyed-in-the-wool boreal strain of Homo sapiens, I was already long out of my temperature comfort zone. My photo subject, however—a female cabbage white butterfly—seemed to be flitting quite energetically through a patch of white coneflowers.
Today's predicted high is 87˚F with low to mid-80s expected for the remainder of the week…plus the even better news that nighttime lows will be in the 60s˚! Night temperatures in the this range, plus the fans, nicely cools cottage—and the 17-thick stone walls retains and keeps the interior cool throughout the day. In fact, last night's brief temperature low of 68˚F has already kept the interior temp down by about 10˚ so far today…and a cooler bottom number tonight and throughout the nights ahead will probably expand that to more like a 15˚ variation.
Hooray! Heat relief. Suppose we could even have snow?
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14 comments:
That is an extraordinary photo, Grizz. Absolutely exquisite!
Yes, we in the east are all celebrating the lowering of the temperatures. While my wife would disagree with me—something that occurs frequently—i would choose the coldest day of the year over the hottest. I can breathe on a cold day, but days like the ones we've had in the past ten days nearly suffocate me. May be be blessed with a little moderate weather for a while!
The temps and humidity moved on from here too. Much more bearable. Snow........well that might be pushing it!!
George…
The truth is, I had another shot taken at the same time which I'd intended to use. It is technically a superior image—crisp focus, better angle. But when I looked at this one during processing (basically cropping and making a tad lighter) I was just taken by the lovely colors. Given your artist's eye, I'm quite pleased you like it, too. Thank you.
I'm with you on the choice of days…I'll take being cold over being hot any time. I feel really good on cold days, energized. And it is easier for me to breathe, also. You can always put on more clothes, add a blanket, or toss another log on the fire. But when you're suffocatingly hot, sweating, sweltering, stewing in your own juices and down the the, er, bare essentials, unless you have a shady pool or want to become a prisoner of air conditioning, you're out of luck. If it never got above 80˚F (and except for making a compromise with Myladylove, I'd say 72˚) I'd be truly happy.
If the National Weather Service's predictions are to be believe, we'll have mid-80˚ for at least a week hereabouts…hope you're at least this comfortable.
Good to hear from you, BTW.
Muffy's Marks…
Mid-80s˚ here today, and much the same they claim for at least a week. I hope they're right! Lord knows, the relief is truly welcome. Re. that snow…a fellow can always dream.
I agree the purples in background are a lovely colour contrast to its opposite yellow.I had to drive to a lake huron beachside to wash away the heatwave.
AfromTO…
Yup, for me the background colors are what makes the shot—not just the purple and magenta, but the greens and turquoise, yellow and orange, and even the white. All seemingly in the right place. And compared to the shot I didn't run, it's obvious I moved only a few inches…yet that's what made all the difference.
Guess I hadn't realized Big T was also under the heatwave blanket. At least you could escape; I would have. Did you go somewhere on Georgian Bay or somewhere below, on the main lakeshore?
Isn't that funny with a cottage on GB 45years we have never considered it a part of lake huron but a seperate entity. Nope went more south to sandy beaches of the Saugeen shores -miles of white sand and crystal clear waters.Went to look at a new car halfway there and didn't get a car just kept going.the waves were calling.As for you living on top of water it's sad to think there isn't a great diving spot out your front window.
you know you pic reminds me of an old newspaper photo somehow?
AfromTO…
You're not alone in thinking of Georgian Bay as its own entity and separate from Lake Huron…I think most people who've spent much time in the region see it the same way. As, frankly, do I—though as a writer working all around the Great Lakes, I always had to keep it both ways in my head. You couldn't write about the fishing, camping, or travel possibilities of Huron and NOT mention GB, or you'd get letters—and if you simply wrote it up as one more great place on Huron they'd get offended at that, too. The Georgian Bay folks always wanted to be separatist and included and while I understood and sympathized with their have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too quandary, it was a mighty fine line to try and walk with editors and such in print. Moreover, folks in the Les Cheneaux Islands and around the whole North Channel were just as sectoral.
Huh, that old newspaper photo comparison puzzles me. I think of newspaper photos as first of all, always black and white—even in this day when the smallest low-circulation weekly might run a color front page—and second, of being highly graphic (at least the best ones) in composition. Now I could see an old nature shot from, say, Life or Look, though not National Geographic because their old Leica shots were always notches above the other publications—and this one is, being honest, not up to snuff. Plus it's probably too soft and artsy and pastel for them.
But hey, you think of it any way you want. I'm not about to question your painter's eye and visual background. Especially not a lady who's just been steam-cooked and smitten with the car bug. :~D
Maybe it's the graininess of the background almost ink dots and colours slightly faded but with an intense black. And seriously it is just weird that I have never thought of GB being on Lake Huron.We in Ont would never say we are going to lake Huron if we were going to GB.Anyway have you been to your piece of sand lately?
AfromTO…
Not weird at all. GB is a huge body of water. I guess if you're on the Bruce Peninsula or Manitoulin Island, it's even more pronounced since you have Georgian Bay or the North Channel on one side of you and Huron proper on the other. It's like they can't both be one place if I'm here in the middle!
The same thing happens with the Sounds along the Outer Banks area—Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, etc. Folks there don't think of being part of the Atlantic Ocean. And neither, really, do those along the Gulf of Mexico.
It's human nature to reduce geography to a more humanly imaginable scale. An ocean or a Great Lake is too big to truly grasp; you can't relate such a thing—such a concept—to yourself. We reduce land and water, places—including cities—down, to ever-smaller entities, bays, beaches, points, channels, neighborhoods—so that we can wrap our minds around the place, comprehend it to a better degree, and by comparison, scale it so's we don't seem so very, very small. That's why when you stand beneath a starry sky and look up at the ungraspable vast spans of the heavens above, you feel so truly insignificant, a mere speck, a mote of dust, flung within a universe teeming with the ancient light of distant worlds.
Nope, not weird at all; rather, perfectly human.
No, haven't been up there in a couple of years…but I'm going to try and make it this year. I am, in fact, desperate to see what's my very favorite place on the face of the earth once again. It has been way too long.
We fled from central PA roasting in 100 degree temps to southern California (where our son lives). In CA, temps are in the mid-70s during the day and drop to the 60s overnight. Lovely cooling breezes.
Oh, I meant to say: that photo is just gorgeous.
KGMom…
I don't blame you. It was near-insufferable here. But now it is much better—still hot (mid-80s˚) during the day, but down into the 60s˚ at night. Quite pleasant. At the worst of it, though, I checked and it was cooler in both Florida and South Carolina, where we have family. Makes one wonder.
Thank you re. photo. Just one of those as much luck as anything shots.
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