My Only Summer -- Pictures of August

"My Only Summer" -- it's the name of a cool song by the Deftones that a local covers band ("Right In The Face" -- not sure if they're still around) did excellently at the local Sliders pub back in 2001.

Obviously, this wasn't my only summer, but I thought it was a cool title anyway. :-)

This August was O.K. at best. The first part was a bit grey (as noted here before), but then we got into a decent stretch of mostly sunny weather with temperatures in the 80's, and a few days it got over 90F (32-34C).

One of my favorite photo subjects is the Cedar River, tracking its changes from season to season. Here it was a bright, warm morning. Perfect weather.

I went down to the Trestle and waded in the river a few evenings after work, and a couple of Saturdays I went swimming there, which was fun.

I also engaged in some cleaning up of my place. Some rooms just became overloaded with storage and junk. I had a ton of Halloween and Christmas decorations that needed their own closet space. The closet had stuff left over from my parents' days in the place. Out most of it went.

I took this picture to try to get the dragonflies -- unfortunately they didn't show up in the picture! There were maybe 8 or 9 or them flying about.

I'm still working on my novels. It's a never ending track of editing and trying to come up with the closing chapters on two of them.

Here in the U.S. it's election time, and I've avoided Facebook for the most part, because of all the politics.

Morning traffic on the highway. The sun was bright and it was 80F out. Incredibly awesome summer weather here. "California weather". Pic was taken sometime in late August (my Canon camera's date stamp doesn't seem to work well).

I got a new cell phone, a smart phone. Finally, I've figured out how to do the basic tasks on it, including making calls and taking pictures. A couple weeks ago, on August 24th, my boss and I delivered some documents into downtown Seattle, and it was an awesome 88 degree day, with dry heat which was quite pleasant. With all of Seattle's natural beauty around me, I felt my pocket for my Nikon camera (which I usually keep in my inside coat pocket). I had forgotten it!

It took me an hour (we were in heavy traffic the entire time) to realise I had a camera with me: the camera on the smart phone.

To my surprise many of the photos came out quite well. I will include a blog post later with many pictures that I took downtown.

I went with my mom to the doctor in Auburn on a day off, to help her find their office. The 167 freeway goes straight through the Green River Valley, which used to be farm country but now is a vast industrial park, with a few green belts in between. Here you can see a dairy farm -- one of the few dairy farms left between Sumner and Renton.

Right now it's September, and the weather is Septemberish -- grey mostly, with temps around 20-22C. No Indian Summer yet. Some years we have a terrific Indian Summer. Others? Bleh.

Afternoon traffic when its 89 degrees out. As you can tell, the grass on the hillside is brown -- typical for rainy Seattle in the summer. When I first went east of the Rockies a long time ago, I was amazed that the grass stayed green year 'round -- even in summer.

For those who are overseas, "Indian Summer" is an American term for the times when summer weather extends deep into September in the more northerly latitudes. Here in Seattle when we have Indian Summer it's usually 75-80F and the afternoons are warm, while the nights are cold.

A couple sunset pics I took a week ago; the clouds were quite remarkable. Generally in my valley the sunrises are much, much better than sunsets for some reason. Taken on my Canon snapshot camera.

ORION THE HUNTER -- HARBINGER OF FALL

I usually ride my bike two times a day. Early morning, and often I'll ride when it's still dark out. Then I'll take another ride in early evening. In late August the astronomical harbinger of Fall appears in the Eastern morning sky: the Constellation Orion.

The Constellation Orion is probably the most impressive constellation in the sky. It not only looks cool -- the "Hunter" with sword and scabbard -- but it has some nebulae that are visible when you look at it through a telescope. In some areas, they can be seen with a good pair of binoculars.

Seattle on August 24th; photo taken on my new smart phone. The Olympic Mountains -- about 90 km to the West, across Puget Sound and the Kitsap Peninsula -- are in the background. I took this pic on my smart phone.

When I see Orion for the first time, usually the third week of August or so, it gives me an ishy feeling. It's because the appearance of Orion means the warm weather will soon go. Orion is our most prominent Winter constellation (the "Summer Triangle" / Cygnus the Swan being the most prominent Summer one), and usually when you see it high in the night sky it's freezing out.

Right now as I write this it is grey out. It's supposed to be mostly cloudy today, and the temperature just might hit 70F.

It's already Halloween at least in one aisle at the Renton Walgreen's. The skull pumpkins in the bottom photo are apparently animated -- they move and make spooky sounds. Or something. Both pics were taken on my smart phone.

About five days ago I went into the local Walgreen's (a national drug store chain) to get some supplements and there it was: a Halloween decoration display! Now, Halloween is my favorite holiday -- but August is a bit early to be selling Halloween stuff, isn't it? Ah well.

The photo's a little grainy because I took it on the fly, but the lenticular clouds are a bit unusual. They look a little like the appearance of the motherships in the movie Independence Day. Another smart phone pic.

Here's hoping your September goes well. For those who want to see more of my photos, taken with all my cameras, I have a Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/120507399@N03/

I have a lot of photos there -- some of them are also here on this blog, but there are many, many more also.

Until next time, stay safe everybody.
CC 9-4-2016