We walked in the early morning
We walked in the early morning
but no dew damped the grass
the heat already lay in wait
and we wondered if the earth had ever rested,
if the paws and feet that trod the night
had ever waded through a gentle sea
for the sun was a yellow devil
an eye unblinking and the tender blue
of spring a steely sheet of unbearable glare.
We walked the early morning
through a thin veil of dust
golden motes igniting the air
where dragonflies hover
hunting low impervious to the sun
their mechanism in tune
to this deathly stillness.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
Such lyrical and beautiful lines to describe the drought. (I had to look up secheresse.) Beautiful photos. It looks like autumn.
Thank you 🙂
The light is lovely really, but it’s so hot so early on. The source of our stream is dammed not far along our walk, and there’s virtually nothing in the reservoir now.
You’re welcome.
We got some rain last night, and we might get more tonight/this weekend with thunderstorms expected. The air is heavy and sticky. If we get a lot of rain, I’ll try to send some your way. 🙂
That would be very welcome 🙂 It’s getting critical. The pressure of the domestic water supply is being reduced, nuclear power stations have closed because the water they use for cooling the reactors is making the rivers too hot.
Wow–I’m so sorry. 😞
It’s exhausting, being worried for weeks on end.
I’m sure it is. Very stressful.
We’re all getting ratty, irritable. Even Trixie. She smacked Bix yesterday because Redmond had been winding her up, No damage done, she doesn’t use her claws, but he was a bit upset.
Oh dear. I can imagine everyone is a bit stir crazy with it being too hot and dry to run around, or even walk around much.
The indoor temperature is steady, between 82 and 83°F night and day if we keep windows and shutters closed. Our bedroom gets cooler at night because we can have the window wide open. We have to keep the study closed up though because there are so many thirsty and hungry animals creeping around outside the dogs bark all night if they can hear them. And of course, we’re at ground level…
Don’t things fly in at night. . .? At least it gets a bit cooler at night.
We’ve just kept our a/c running day and night for weeks. Not what we typically do, but it seems more efficient. I’ve been keeping all of our window shades down to block the sun, and we finally bought some for a few windows that didn’t have them.
No, we keep the shutters on the catch so nothing with wings can get in. Things with legs can, of course. The window looks due west so there’s a moon in it a lot of the night too and that would keep me awake.
A/C is still a bit of a luxury here. You need a house really, so you have somewhere outside to stack all the engines that run it. Maybe your systems are more compact, but I don’t know anyone in an apartment who has it.
Yes, you have to let the cool air in at night and close everything up when the sun gets warm. Easier said than done in town when you have a choice— windows open and be kept awake by the noise, or windows closed and be kept awake by the heat.
Here it depends on where you live and what type of housing. We have an old house and added the a/c–it worked with the duct work we had. Most apartment complexes have a/c, but when we lived in an apartment that was a converted old house we didn’t. We had a window unit in the bedroom.
Most public buildings here have a/c.
Yes, public buildings do here too, and big shops. One reason why people like shopping so much!
Yes, here they’re telling people if they don’t have a/c to spend time inside at a movie or store or whatever. When our children were little, we belonged to a pool.
It’s all good for business too. Cynical, I know, but I am a cynic 🙂
But maybe not good for businesses that don’t have a/c–unless they are at the beach.
I imagine that the biggest companies who are most likely to have someone in government in their pockets will have a/c. The others don’t count.
😏
The land does look parched. The colors (and dogs) are beautiful though. (K)
It’s tragic. The leaves are turning and falling and the young ones are dying. The dogs are flaked out most of the time….until I pick up a lead, then they’re electrified. Can’t help thinking of Finbar and how he would run and hide as soon as he saw a lead.
It really is tragic.
Dogs have opinions too.
You won’t find them counting off the days until the beginning of September when the hunting season will re-open and they’ll be able to massacre all the wildlife that has survived the drought.
What a thing to look forward to.
I’ve been signing petitions to have it cancelled this year, but without much (any) hope that the government will listen. Their trigger-happy friends wouldn’t be pleased.
People with guns usually have the upper hand.
Yes. As they say, it’s not guns that kill, it’s people. And there are a lot of those people.
A scary amount of them.
My thought too.
It’s frightening. And sad.
Putting out water now as well as food. There should be no need as there’s a stream with two tributaries but they’re dry. Farmers (and the neighbour) have hived it all off for irrigation. Now there’s a ban on irrigation, but there’s no water left anyway.
We walked the early morning
through a thin veil of dust
golden motes igniting the air,
The above stanza is so perfect and says it all 💜
Thanks Willow. That’s just what it looked like. Pretty.
Yes indeed 💜