Where up meets down

It's high summer in the Berkshires. The heat wave of the past weeks is gone and the air is pleasant. Even when the temperature last week was over a hundred, in the valley where I work, it was it's usual 10 degrees lower as I approach home. We don't have A/C at home so this is significant so it was bearable with all the fans going.

Usually this kind of weather is reserved for late August.



Yesterday another strange storm came through. With reminders of the the tornado warnings just a couple of months ago, I found that people I work with were quite edgy when the sky grayed and the severe weather warnings were sounded. It actually hit heavier in the central Berkshires and as I needed to be in Pittsfield last night I found many major trees and limbs down.
Yesterday also marked the day that I came home to find that the roofer had finally fixed our roof that was damaged when the tree fell on it. Now I just need to have the gutter people fix their piece and we are back to where we were, except that is for the barren piece of land or hill next to our house where the stand of pines once where.

I have been tending to the "hill" and watering it daily and nurturing the small seedlings that were revealed when the trees were taken. Initially it was just total shock on the land with the harsh sun, but now, with the watering, bushes and sprouts are coming up and a few maple and aspen seedlings have potential of again shading the house, even though this may be years away.
This new chore of staking up the bushes and tending to them has booted some more important projects from the list and that seems to be the way it often is.

I am so looking forward to vacation the even of next month. Crowded out by all sorts of work commitments, I have just a little more than a week that is locked in on the calendar with a few random days on either side. We've done a few artsy things so far: a play, a few concerts and of course the new Harry Potter movie [some of us, 3 times]. The pleasure of living where we do.

Hope all who venture here are having a good summer.