The endless summer, cont.

 

Seattle hit 88 yesterday, another weather record smashed. Although there was something discombobulating about such a hot day with the sun staying (relatively) low in the autumn sky. 

A nasty cover of wildfire smoke kept the temperature down on Saturday. Until we finally get some rain, the fires continue to burn and smoke drifts from one side of the state to the other. 

The air pollution level was high this weekend so we stayed mostly inside with both air purifiers running. Listened to the endless Mariners baseball game on the radio which dragged into the evening with 18 innings. I felt for the 45,000 fans sitting out in the stadium for 7+ hours. After all that? Yup. They lost. 

On the bright side, we still have tomatoes. I pruned the roses lightly for winter and cut these red beauties along with the last white dahlias.

There isn't much fall color in the neighborhood. I think it's just too hot and the plants are parched. Most of the leaves on our pretty Japanese maple turned brown and fell on the ground. Friday is the next chance for rain, and only 60% at that. But it will come, and before long I'll be complaining about the endless rain. 

My drive back to Seattle was fairly easy and oh, what a difference with our bridge open again. I have to pinch myself. Headed over to Twisp, we were already 40 miles down the road in the time it once took to navigate the detour out to the freeway.   

On Friday headed west, the hoards were mostly traveling eastbound on the passes so that was good. I stopped as usual at the Lone Pine Store along the Columbia River, where we often pick up an apple, cherry or blueberry pie. 

This time I scored a pecan. Not even a holiday, so a pretty decadent choice. An exceptional pecan pie is rare-- not overly sweet and with just the right gooey-ness. We had little slices for dessert all week. Pecan is the King of Pies when it comes to calories, but worth it now and then for a really good one.