One of our bike-riding neighbors sent out a note calling for a ride today, and it just seemed like a bad idea. The heat index, at that moment this afternoon, was 114 miserable degrees.
In my many years of experience with extreme summer weather I can tell you this: nothing over 106 matters. It just reads as pain.
So I did not go for a bike ride today. But I washed clothes. And, also, I watched a documentary I’ve decided to add to my fall class. It’s a little bit older, this documentary, but it includes a few things I didn’t know about a moment I’ve studied a fair amount. The real point will be in our analysis of the film as a product, and I made several pages of notes. It might, in fact, become the first one we watch in the class. Some of the points in it could set a tone.
Anyway, let’s look at some more flowers. It’s difficult to say a hibiscus is sneaky, but this one did sneak up on me this year. One day it was a shrub and then last week, this happened.
I might prefer the hibiscus flowers in their early form. Intricate. Sturdy. Delicate. Full of promise.
Now, this week, the hydrangeas are making their play for attention. We have two of these giant white hydrangeas. And I hope that, this year, we don’t get a torrential rain that ruins them before their show is done.
If we ever design a flowerbed of our own, I’d make the argument that it should be chronologically designed, with each section intending to show off its best work as the season progresses. One thing leading to the next, a calendar of clump, a slower sun dial, if you will.
One that can handle the heat.
