The clouds of relief (with bonus birds)
It took me only 10 or 11 seriously hot days and nights in a row in the second half of July to radically change my attitude towards clouds and rain. :) It's amazing how what felt depressing and annoying suddenly became a blessing. :) It was such a relief that the ground and buildings suddenly got a chance to cool down during the first cloudy and occasionally rainy days, so we could finally have cool nights.
So, I suddenly got obsessed with photographing the clouds "while they lasted" for a few days until it become clear that the relief from the worst heat would last more than it was initially predicted. I now still enjoy every cloudy hour or half-hour, every gust of cool wind (even the wind gets hot on the hottest days!), and every mostly cloudy day feels like pure blessing. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad that the days are now getting shorter, so when the next heat wave inevitably strikes, the ground and buildings will have less time to heat up and emit that heat back during the nights. I'm afraid we'll soon be back to a daily high of 33 to 35C (91 to 95F), so I'd better enjoy the cooler period while it lasts indeed.
And now here are at last those cloud photos I took in late June. (Ouch, there were very picturesque clouds this evening, but I didn't have my camera with me, so you are only getting old photos :P)
27 June. The inevitable swifts wouldn't stop getting between my camera and the clouds, so I decided to treat them as a feature rather than a bug. :)
A closer view of the same white clouds - and more swifts (alas, they are too fast for my camera, so some of them inevitably become blurs of motion in my photos).
And now we are moving from my neighboorhood to the new park later that evening. And I can't remember whether or not it rained that night. ;)
28 June. Still no escape from the swifts in the sky, but they are less visible here:
Same day, same clouds. A flock of pigeons, for a change. They were soooo much slower than the swifts that I even wondered how such clumsy fliers can catch any insects to eat. Or maybe insects aren't really an important part of their diet? These are obviously domestic pigeons, but they are very likely to be feral; such feral flocks somehow survive well in my neighbourhood although they are relatively new to it.
And now finally just the clouds (kindly ignore that swift in the top left corner :P) and the roof of a house that is going to appear in my next entry.
Still 28 June, and the view that can be seen for my favourite spot for outdoor knitting.
A different angle and a different section of the same view.
So, I suddenly got obsessed with photographing the clouds "while they lasted" for a few days until it become clear that the relief from the worst heat would last more than it was initially predicted. I now still enjoy every cloudy hour or half-hour, every gust of cool wind (even the wind gets hot on the hottest days!), and every mostly cloudy day feels like pure blessing. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad that the days are now getting shorter, so when the next heat wave inevitably strikes, the ground and buildings will have less time to heat up and emit that heat back during the nights. I'm afraid we'll soon be back to a daily high of 33 to 35C (91 to 95F), so I'd better enjoy the cooler period while it lasts indeed.
And now here are at last those cloud photos I took in late June. (Ouch, there were very picturesque clouds this evening, but I didn't have my camera with me, so you are only getting old photos :P)
27 June. The inevitable swifts wouldn't stop getting between my camera and the clouds, so I decided to treat them as a feature rather than a bug. :)
A closer view of the same white clouds - and more swifts (alas, they are too fast for my camera, so some of them inevitably become blurs of motion in my photos).
And now we are moving from my neighboorhood to the new park later that evening. And I can't remember whether or not it rained that night. ;)
28 June. Still no escape from the swifts in the sky, but they are less visible here:
Same day, same clouds. A flock of pigeons, for a change. They were soooo much slower than the swifts that I even wondered how such clumsy fliers can catch any insects to eat. Or maybe insects aren't really an important part of their diet? These are obviously domestic pigeons, but they are very likely to be feral; such feral flocks somehow survive well in my neighbourhood although they are relatively new to it.
And now finally just the clouds (kindly ignore that swift in the top left corner :P) and the roof of a house that is going to appear in my next entry.
Still 28 June, and the view that can be seen for my favourite spot for outdoor knitting.
A different angle and a different section of the same view.
