Nature is an Awesome Thing
Smoky haze over Swampscott, Massachusetts. (My little town.)
When I woke up this morning, my first thought was "barbecue? Like, a lot of barbecue?" (I'm not too swift until I've had some breakfast.) Then I looked out the window and saw... not much. For a sunny day, the visibility was really poor. My pre-breakfast brain thought "huh-- well the sun's way up, so it's too late for sea mist." So I decided it was a big fire somewhere nearby, even though I hadn't heard sirens, and shrugged it off.
Actually: There have been 114 forest fires in Quebec in the last few days, nine of which are still burning out of control.
1,000 firefighters battle Quebec forest fires: from the National Post (Canada)
Smoke from Quebec forest fires moves into the region: from the Boston Globe
What it looks like in Montreal. Photo credit CBC.