Fire, fire, fire!

After months of our complaining, summer's officially here.

It hit 98 degrees yesterday. Hard to beat a day in the backyard -- got our new umbrella up just in time for the heatwave. We sat in the late afternoon shade, drank big glasses of sweet sun tea and listened to the Beavers on the radio in the College World Series.

Most of the Vancouver gang came over later for an impromptu grilled chicken taco night. And, heat be damned, I couldn't resist the temptation of an evening fire. All my pictures of the actual flames were lame, so I'll have to try shooting those again next time.

Gotta love June in the Northwest when you have light until around 10 p.m.


Today it's supposed to hit 100 degrees. This is one of those stretches when I think, "You know, air conditioning would be kinda nice after all." But, since this old house doesn't have AC, we're making due. The curtains are drawn. The house is dark. The lawn and gardens are soaked down. And Wiley and I have retreated to the basement to keep cool. I believe it's a good day for some Netflix.

Maybe the ice cream man will drive by.