A short season

 

It's going to be a short summer in the Pacific Northwest. We are still struggling to reach 70 degrees. On my drive home yesterday, it rained along the Columbia River outside Wenatchee. But mid-June, it should be hot and dry in this part of the state. 

The Washington fruit crops are late after the cold spring. Some were frost damaged. We always see cherries in the highway fruit stands by now. Last year this time, most of the cherries were destroyed by the excessive heat. A finicky, delicate crop if there ever was one.  It must take nerves of steel to grow cherries.

In my mind, this will go down as the summer of weeds. After battling them in the gravel driveway last week (a labor of Hercules) now I get to tackle the garden beds here. The plant growth is rampant, although the flowers, like the fruit, are about a month late. Anyway, despite all the complaining, I'll take this over the heat dome and wildfire smoke last summer.

Well, back to the usual chores and routines of Seattle. Amanda, Tom and the girls are backpacking on the Olympic coast wilderness for 10 days, so things are quiet in Twisp. Should give the driveway weeds time to recover before our next visit in July. Ha.