We are halfway through summer. It is different from other summers. Big time. Some good. Some bad. Some just different.
Weather – Just. Plain. Crazy. We had a lot of rain and after a slow start, a lot of heat. Humidity off the charts! I may be growing mushrooms between my toes or behind my ears if I’m not careful.
Beauty – It’s a wash and wear summer. Makeup slides off like a kid at a water park sometimes ending with a splash! It’s a bad summer for hair. The weather has been clammy. Hair sticks to your skin or frizzles (shazizzles!). My hair feels dirty or greasy or flat within hours of washing.
Summer clothes – I’m either too hot or too cold (from the clamminess). I’ve been wearing my lightweight hoodie a lot. That thing flops on and off as my personal gauge waxes and wanes. Last night I wore long pants. Last week it was linen shorts. I have a clothing range that’s good for both Siberian and tropical rain forest weather.
Air conditioning – Many places locally, especially stores and restaurants, have it cranked down low which only makes the difference greater when you go outside. I routinely carry a sweater with me even when it’s 90 degrees. Definitely not a designer look! More like vintage nursing home.
Foliage – With all the rain many of my trees have eighteen inches of new growth this year. That’s a record. Some flowers have done really well. I’ve had to cut back my water lily pads because they were taking over the yard. (Seriously they were edging out of the pond over the stone wall!) My geraniums looked hot and tired (like I sometimes do) and stopped flowering. Hydrangeas – wonderful! Roses – so-so. Weeds – outrageous and tenacious!
Tomatoes – This is a tough one. There aren’t as many as usual but they are ripening and wonderful. It’s been warm enough and wet enough. Perhaps too warm? Or the soil is tired? Or the wet is too wet?
Farm stands – Corn is fabulous and the stone fruit (peaches, plums, apricots) has been sweet. The local strawberries were not. Some vegetables have taken off. A zucchini can grow two feet overnight or wither up and die.
Fairs, carnivals, festivals – Yikes! So many have been rained out, postponed or cancelled. The beloved husband was rained out of two baseball games (out of three). We have a large local festival starting next week. We’ll see what Mother Nature brings along with corn dogs, waffle ice cream sandwiches and strudels.
Weather all over has been…well…different. I’m not complaining. Each year brings its challenges and its rewards.
What’s the best or worst of your season?
Here it is the end of August, and I’m just getting around to your update at the end of July. Sheesh.
It certainly has been one of *those* summers. Everyone around here is crying foul because there’s a feeling of having been robbed. Temperatures now feel more like the end of September than the end of August. I’m bracing myself now for a winter from hell … aka lots of snow 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Predictions are for a snowy winter but then again they can’t predict what’s going to happen in 4 hours. I do feel robbed. We missed the pleasant days of summer. We went from rainy to freaking hot back to rainy and hot again. Let’s hope fall is long and nice.
LikeLike
We didn’t get any of the freaking hot. Only the rainy part 😦
I talked to my brother this afternoon who still lives in my hometown in the north. Last night they had a hard frost. Yikes. It feels more like early October instead of the 1st of September.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A hard frost? Yikes! Where does he live! We have another month to 6 weeks (hopefully) before we see that.
LikeLike
He’s 700km north of Toronto. It’s pretty far up there, but STILL!! Sept 1st is REALLY early. Usually they don’t see their first frost until the end of September.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is early.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I may have gotten frostbite in Trader Joe’s yesterday or maybe it was from my office, I’m not sure. All I know is I look forward to getting into my sweltering car when leaving both of these places.
The weather is ridiculous and I’m tired of feeling like I live in a rain forest.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rain forest is perfect. I took a hooded sweatshirt to shop at our local upscale grocery store. It’s always cold in there. It was very warm outside and I felt foolish. Inside I noticed others had a sweater or some sort of cover up on.
LikeLike
So far, it’s been a pretty average summer here. We could use some more rain, as always in Southern California.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s been hotter and much rainier than usual here. Predictions are nuts. Today was supposed to be a complete washout and the sun just popped out. First time in a week.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Our wide-ranged weather temperatures and storms have been crazy too. Isn’t that annoying, when you have to carry or wear a sweater whenever you go into stores or restaurants.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. If you don’t, it’s very cold. If you bring it in, you look like a nursing home escapee.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So very true. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re right, it has been a crazy season around here. Very few really nice days.
I was in Baltimore overnight last week where is was 90 with high humidity. Drove home, got out of my car and it was 68 and beautiful. Low 60’s at night followed by high 80’s the next day and humid. Weather people never seem to get the rain predictions right. I’ve given up listening. They’ve joined the list of newscasters.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s what bothers me most. We haven’t had a run of really nice days like we usually do. We normally get 3 weeks or so of really stinking hot weather with humidity but this summer it seems to be all the time. I hope we have a long nice fall to make up for it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoy the humor in your writing – thank you for helping me smile this Friday morning. Mushrooms between your toes, cold stores that look like vintage nursing homes with the sweater needed despite 90 degrees outside. Oh yes, sounds like here. The best thing about this summer to me is ….SUMMER. Whether too rainy or too hot or too chilly at times or too humid. I. Love. Summer. (Perhaps because I hate the cold!!). This summer, we notice the flowers/trees/bushes are growing faster than ever, our hydrangea bush is finally flowering like crazy, more chipmunks than ever, and the birds are eating us out of house and home, with us refilling the bird feeder and suet holder once a day. Love it all. xoxo
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love summer too. That’s why I get frustrated when we don’t get a series of nice days. Most of this summer has been humid and cloudy. Still better than the heart of winter. I recently bought 200 pounds of birdseed. It’s cheaper and they are also eating like crazy here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I feel like I can tell how much rain an area has had by their strawberries — to much rain and they have less taste. Like it’s diluted.
But I’d kill for some rain out here in California now. Screw the strawberries.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Send me strawberries and I’ll send you rain!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We just got back from a trip to MD, NJ, and Williamsburg ~ Williamsburg was hot and humid on Monday night, but Tuesday morning was delightful . . . with temps in the low 80’s and 40% humidity. A well appreciated change!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds wonderful. I can count on my hands the number of days we’ve had like that.
LikeLike
It has been hotter than hell here. We went to a few art and craft festivals, but nearly melted at one and got rained on at another. Went to a sunflower farm this week and it was miserably hot and humid. Grass is taking over the zennia bed, but don’t ask me if I care.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’ve had a lot of rain. So much stuff has been rained out or at least uncomfortable to attend. It’s a great year for weeds.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love fresh garden veggies, but I am eagerly awaiting the Fall.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m looking for the other side of August when it’s pleasant and not so rainy. It’s also hard to predict weather here. We were predicted to get torrential rains here yesterday but it was just humid and cloudy. Today it’s….you guessed it…humid and cloudy. Maybe rain later.
LikeLike
The worst is that we still have August coming up and hurricane season heats up in Aug. & Sept. Best is that maybe we will be spared another year and have a tropical storm to bring some rain before too long. Nice that you have flowers and water lilies!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh yes, hurricane season. We will get one occasionally but more often we get a lot of rain out them.
LikeLike
Your comparisons crack me up. Has anyone voted on making seasons shorter so that we can trade off the things we don’t like? We had the longest, coldest spring I ever imagined. That’s something I would have longed for, but when I got it, I wished we could walk without a jacket. Two months of each season would be quite enough for me. That might make birthdays come around more often, though. Scratch that idea!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’d like more temperate seasons. Not too hot or cold or steamy. Guess I’d have to move for that but I don’t know where.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The worst was the extreme heat this summer (121.8 F one day), and the worst was when the heat broke because the monsoons started and we can’t get our leaking roof fixed. Oh, you said BEST and worst? hahah
LikeLiked by 2 people
or worst and second worst but those two are awful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they are!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The best = our crepe myrtle, after 4 years, is blooming for the first time ever. The worst = the high humidity which I cannot abide.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Crepe myrtles! So beautiful! I have killed one or two. They are borderline hardy in our area. If planted in a protected area the do well. They didn’t like my house.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I’m pleased to see this one bloom. It’s in a protected area, near the house so *fingers crossed* it’ll do fine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are so beautiful. There are a few big ones around here just not in my yard! 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cooling off here after brutal heat. Now we are expecting a day in the 70’s this week. I too carry that senior living sweater into restaurants. Eeegads!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I feel so foolish sometimes. Especially when I don’t need it but I didn’t take one for lunch one day last week and was very uncomfortable! Our temps have broken but the humidity hasn’t. If I wring the air, I could get water out of it.
LikeLike
I spent too many years in almost constant heat and humidity in Florida. So glad to be back up north again. Dryer more pleasant weather is supposed to be headed our way for tomorrow. Yay! Hope the forecast is similar for you. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure. We were supposed to have a lovely day yesterday but it wasn’t. Tomorrow maybe rain. Then again…they aren’t often right these days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I leave my office, I drive half way home with my car windows up and no A/C. My office is a freezer! Although I love the heat, by late September I’m ready for the humidity to clear out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I did that too. I had a short drive and I often did the whole drive without a/c in a 90 degree car. I like it warm but this year’s weather has been weird.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Weird around here, too. But mainly hot, with a dash of humidity to spice things up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have enough spice!
LikeLike
It’s been cool and wet up here – I may get through the entire summer with never wearing shorts.
Like your gardens, though, the wildflowers are lush and abundant if not the cultivated tomatoes.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I read something in yesterday’s newspaper that locally it’s not a good year for tomatoes and peppers. We’ve had a lot of rain but mostly in hard downpours which are not good for them. We have had some very hot weather though. It’s been a roller coaster all summer. The predictions don’t even get close.
LikeLiked by 1 person
we have rain and a cloudy sky… a nice fall weather if we had october… not even the super summer sale works this year… maybe shorts and espandrilles aren’t the hot sellers this year, trecnch coats and wellies are the objects of desire :o(
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe along with some scuba gear!
LikeLike