The thermometer keeps flirting with triple digits today but hasn't quite gotten there yet as it hits 99.5, then back down to 98, then 99.1, then back down again. With big puffy white clouds in the sky ... it looks as if thunderheads are making up over the Appalachians to the west ... the sun filters in and out. Even now, sitting on the porch in my corner of the world known as Augusta County, it's reading 99 but somehow doesn't feel like it.
The difference is a glorious blustery breeze that keeps sweeping across the porch. Building from the mountains, down its slopes, and through the trees, it can be heard as it approaches as we watch the tops of the trees dance and sway ... first, in the woods and sweeping across the road, across the yard, and then -- whoosh! -- it hits me in the rocking chair on the porch.
Ahhh!
The shade trees are doing their job shielding hot rays of sunlight from the house as dappled shadows play across the grass in an invitation to enjoy the shade and the breeze and the hot summer day. Bright yellow and orange day lilies reflect the brilliance of the sun while pastel Rose of Sharon blooms add splashes of color to their lush, green backgrounds.
A few birds are twittering in the forsythia bushes but most are silent ... mid-day naps? I can hear crows in the distance ... probably raiding nests. No other critters are stirring.
And as I look across the field toward the haze-covered mountains in the distance, this wonderful blustery breeze continues.
It's summer in the Valley....
Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
12 July 2011
12 July 2011
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