Change in the air

 

 

Yesterday was hot and smoky again, although not quite as thick. Then last night a violent thunderstorm blew through and I lay in bed listening to the thunder booms. While any rain is good news, wind and lightening strikes are bad news in the tinder dry mountains.

The girls wanted to swim in the river. I said yes if they wore their life jackets. While the air is hot the water is still icy cold, so they didn't stay in for long. They spotted a water snake, and that brought the swim session to a quick end.

Not much in the way of relaxation on this trip. We worked hard at the house, especially John, putting together furniture and lamps, replacing light bulbs (I'm fussy) and setting up the TV for streaming etc. Our little Apple home pod is all we need for music.  In short, it is starting to feel like a home, instead of staying in an Airbnb. Now that it feels comfy, time to go back to Seattle and take care of things there.

Despite all the creature comforts, there's the sense of Big Nature doing whatever it feels like outside the front door.  Animals, insects, reptiles. The risk of fires, floods. Extreme weather battering away at your tidy little home year round. It is beautiful and awesome, but a constant reminder of human's puny place in the big picture. 

 

Smoky but tolerable

 

 

The smoke situation this morning is better than yesterday. By late afternoon, the north breeze cleared out the valley somewhat so we could at least sit outside for a while. The windows are open now to cool off the house.  Maybe not the best idea?  We'll have to wait and see what the day brings.

It's hard to get real time news, but at least no massive smoke plumes are visible today.

Everything is fine at the house-- just dusty on the outside from the ash. Town is devoid of tourists as you can imagine. The locals who have to stay in the Valley mostly wish they didn't. We're planning to leave tomorrow and will probably bring the girls back to Seattle with us.

Still plenty to do here, getting things put together and set up. Fun stuff for me, but I can't speak for John who is not crazy about putting together furniture from boxes. No vacation in the vacation house for him (yet.)

More later...

Monsoon

 

A few dots of welcome green showed up on the Northwest weather map yesterday, the tail end of a Southwest monsoon plume. Any drop of rain is welcome, but it wasn't nearly enough to dampen the fires. 

Despite the rain showers, the air quality in central Washington got even worse, if that's possible. The vacation home people can just leave, but most of the permanent valley residents are stuck under that cloud of smoke. Sometimes it clears out by afternoon, so we'll see what happens today. We want to take some things over and check on the house.

The "Purple Air" website gives real-time air quality for any place on Earth. Like most technology, both a blessing and a curse. I check it obsessively for Twisp-- just another kind of doom scrolling.

We went to South Seattle Community College yesterday to get out of the house. The Arboretum and Chinese Garden are never crowded. I was last there on a  masked up, bundled up walk with my friend Nancy. It was late winter, chilly and sopping wet. My glasses kept fogging up. It seems like a lifetime ago.

They do irrigate the rose garden, but everything else in the Arboretum was parched. The garden looks a bit run down, I suppose because the horticulture students and volunteers haven't been on campus as much during Covid.

We've gone almost 50 days without precipitation in Seattle, closing in on the record 55 days set in 2017. 

 

Adjacent to the Arboretum, there's still a wild looking greenbelt full of blackberries. Hopefully they don't tear it out to expand the formal Chinese garden. It's a great bird and wildlife habitat. You can imagine how many apartment buildings the developers would cram on that prime real estate if they got their hands on it. 

I can't pass a ripe blackberry bush without sampling a few. How about you? The taste of a seedy, prickly, slightly dusty blackberry is evocative of every Northwest summer. When life in Seattle was slow, simple and sweeter.

A few pictures from the Arboretum, taken by John.

Swim meet!

That's Maya, about to hit the water in the 50 freestyle. OK, Amanda said she might have walked the last little bit, but hey, it's her first swim meet.

And Nova, looking like a future Olympian. Her backstroke a thing of beauty. Swim team has been a wonderful confidence builder for these girls.

It was held last night in the town of Brewster, about 40 miles from Twisp and away from the smoke. After everything was cancelled at the home pool, it's great they could still finish the season at a meet with cheering friends and families. I'm so disappointed we missed it, because it looks like a beautiful night in Brewster. And they have great Mexican food down there.

The smoke is really bad in Twisp and Winthrop, especially overnight and in the morning. Sometimes it clears out a bit in the early evening. The tourists are staying away, so the motels and restaurants are empty at what should be the busiest time of the year. 

Next week will be slightly cooler, and hopefully the weather pattern finally changes. More out of state firefighters have arrived so that's some good news. The main goal for now is keeping the fires from burning down to the Valley floor. No one expects them to be completely out until early winter.

We're still planning to take some things over early next week and check on the house. 

The best laid plans

 

 

Our local weather guru Cliff Mass wrote on his blog that July has been the most perfect weather month in Western Washington history. "Moderate, but warm temperatures. Cool enough at night for sleep.  Lots of sun. No wildfire smoke.  Good air quality.  No rain." 

I can't ever remember a stretch of nice weather like this. Although we could sure use some rain.

It's heating up today, getting close to 90 in Seattle, but nothing like that disastrous heat wave we had in June. On the other side of the state, the fires will likely burn until early winter.  The good news is they've  been successful so far defending the more heavily populated areas. The bad news is there's nothing anyone can do about the smoke pollution.

My trivial complaint of the day. This isn't of interest unless you use Google Blogger, but their "new and improved" interface for blog authors is a headache.  I've used the same old Blogger template since 2009, which might be part of the problem.  I might need to switch to a newer one.  If Feathers and Flowers suddenly looks radically different, don't panic. Although I probably will be on this end until I get it transferred over. 

Some of you asked about the hospice program where I trained to volunteer. It is gradually starting up again. There haven't been many patient referrals, and the ones so far have been in places far south like Federal Way and Auburn so I haven't offered.  In terms of daily routine and activities, I'm in no man's land right now. 

From "The Mouse" by poet Robert Burns: 

“The best-laid schemes o'mice an' men gang aft agley.” 

Translated: the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

 

Onion goo soup

 

French onion soup, our favorite. I happened to have all the right ingredients yesterday. Like caramelized Walla Walla onions in the freezer and leftover homemade bread (thanks Mary!) for the croutons. And I splurged at Costco this week on a hunk of real Swiss Gruyere cheese. 

The soup base is just doctored up canned beef broth: red wine, bay leaves and thyme. Needless to say, it was the highlight of the day. And since it made four bowls, lunch might be today's highlight.

 

Amanda sent this picture of Maya last night. They are drying some apricots from the backyard tree.  Life goes on and everyone is OK, although the Valley is smoky and hot. But we still hope to visit the house again in the next week or so.