Raisins on the vine

These are truly sun made. Not Sun Maid. And they're not good to eat. They're crunchy. This seems to happen when there are no leaves to shade young grape bunches. I wonder what percentage of a crop is lost to the sun?

Grapes and raisins.

Our heat wave is not over. Each day is a little hotter than the one before. We've abandoned our loft bedroom for the time being.Sleeping is a little easier on the house's lower levels. We can trap cool air in the morning for some relief. Thank goodness that there's no humidity. Dry air helps the hot air to be a little more bearable.

Golden days

Our grass is dying. There's no rain in our forecast. Ken told me that the weather forecasters are saying that we're unlikely to see any change in the current pattern in the days ahead. We have been lucky, though, in that most of our mornings are cool. We can open up the windows just before sunrise and flood the house with chilly air. It feels good, but by afternoon, the air is back to hot.

Sunrise in the west forty a couple of days ago. A lot of what you see in the foreground are crispy seed pods fallen from the tilleul (linden tree). The rest is was grass and other lawn plants.

Wild fires are burning in the south, and fire danger is elevated in many places, including in our region. We find ourselves wishing for winter in early July. Ugh.

Temperature's risin'

Our daily high temperature is creeping up toward the low 40s. That's the low 100sF if you're counting. The mornings are deceptively cool. The high occurs at some point in the late afternoon.

The sun rises before what promises to be another "scorcher."

The people who work in the vineyards out back start their days as the sun rises. Tasha takes us for morning walks at about the same time. Our evening walks are short. 

Hot again

Yesterday was pretty nice, and not so hot. But today, the temps are expected to rise again, building to heat wave levels once again this week. It will be the third official heat wave of the year in France, with some of the highest temperatures ever recorded around the country and Europe.

I'm still in a sort of blog hiatus, as you may have noticed. Part of it is the heat; it really takes the motivation away, especially for working to take photos and process them. Another part is the lack of subject matter for new posts. I have been working on the yard on those cooler days. In fact, I just finished cutting the grass on the entirety of the property. But I've taken enough photos of the yard. There's not much left to see; most of the grass has been grilled. Rain has been scarce and the grass (and many smaller plants) have died back, dehydrated. Lawns and gardens all around the 'hood and town are mostly brown. 

Nonetheless, I hope you'll check back here once in a while. I don't plan to close the blog down, but it's definitely in a slow slump. For now. Thanks for reading!

Cool again

The heat dome (as it's been called) has moved on to taunt eastern Europe. We are free, for now, from its searing grip. Already, the weather gurus are warning us: it's still early in the summer. It can return. We'll keep an eye out.

And now it's raining. 

Welcome breather

The heat wave has finally broken, sort of. We had a nice thunderstorm last night for a shot while and, this morning, a pretty stiff wind event blew the "heat dome" (as they're calling it) around mixing up the air. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. This morning we have fresh, cool air. Will it last? Who can say. It's still hot, but a little less so. Happy weekend everyone!

Hot damn!

Our last two nights have been horrid. The humidity (such that it is) is up, so that makes things feel worse.Gotta hold on a little longer; relief is expected over the weekend.