Riding Out The Heatwave

“Dawn, then, was a time where things changed element for element. Air ran like hot spring waters nowhere, with no sound. The lake was a quantity of steam very still and deep over valleys of fish and sand held baking under its serene vapors. Tar was poured licorice in the streets, red bricks were
brass and gold, roof tops were paved with bronze. The high-tension wires were lightning held forever, blazing, a threat above the unslept houses.
The cicadas sang louder and yet louder.
The sun did not rise, it overflowed.”
~ Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

We’re in the grip of a heatwave just now, down here in Australia. It’s our third straight day of wretched temperatures. It reached 44ºc yesterday (111ºF) and already this morning the air is thick and warm as soup.

So I’m keeping this short, because there are jobs to do. Everything is limp in the heat. The fruit trees all need water, to help them hold their budding fruit. My pots and vegetable beds are parched. All of the bird baths need filling too.

We’ll drive around and check the cattle troughs. Not just for our cows. The local wildlife all rely on them in this heat too, so even in the paddocks which are pasturing (that means no cows while the grass grows back) we need to be sure that the watering points are all in working order.

When we’re done we’ll go help a couple of elderly neighbours who themselves are struggling as the mercury rises. They have horses and cattle and orchards to attend to, and the only time in the day worth doing anything outside is now, in the early morning when the air still has some faint reckoning of cool.

Meanwhile, all my friends in America keep sending me photos of their snowfalls!

At least I have this to send in return! Okay, gotta go.

Lots of love, Nicole <3 xoxo