July

Book of Hours
July calendar page

This is a painting of Chateau du Clain in Poitiers, just one of many homes belonging to the fabulously rich Duc du Berry in the 1400's. The scene is sheep shearing and wheat harvesting. This miniature calendar page is the only precious record of a French castle that no longer exists.  Apparently the three stone piers under the wooden bridge still stand in the river, but I've Googled far and wide and haven't been able to find modern picture of the site. 

Ready or not, July is here:

• National Blueberry Month
• National Anti-Boredom Month
• Unlucky Month for weddings
• National Cell Phone Courtesy Month
• National Hot Dog Month
• National Ice Cream Month 

July 4th is statistically the rainiest day of the month in Seattle, and since modern record-keeping it has never been over 90 degrees.  But after a cloudy and unseasonably cool weekend, Monday was drop-dead beautiful. Ditto today. On the news we're being warned about a one day mini-heat wave. If you hear a whining sound coming from the upper left hand corner of the country, it's just the Washington natives complaining about the "unbearable hot weather."