Dramatic Sky

The hottest summer of the Northern Hemisphere since records have been kept, I was told. I suspect it's one of Cape Cod's hottest summers. I'm enjoying it except for the times when there is high humidity. But so far the humidity has not equaled some days in NYC when I actually broke a sweat from the exertion of brushing my teeth in the morning.

I saw this dramatic tree top lighting at sunset the other day when the sun was low enough to shine from under the clouds. Later that evening the clouds thinned enough for a full moon to shine haloed, or ringed which is supposed to mean rain and, indeed, there was a brief thunderstorm. After some 14 months away from the Big Apple I still watch the natural world as if it's all new to me. In fact, it's a rediscovery. Except for the ocean, which, indeed is new to me still. I see people jogging, often with their IPods playing in their ears, and know they are seeing almost nothing. They're young, they'll have time to see. But will they be in the habit of not seeing?

When Leslie was here we had three rather long walks beside the sea, really strolls, looking carefully at the variety of shells and seaweed, the colors, the graceful shapes. She is near the Pacific but her seashores are very different, they even small different says she. It is a pleasure to be with someone who can see the small things like the crab shell, empty of all the gulls at, but with the tiny eyes still attached like headlights.