No doubt about it. Summer has arrived in New Jersey. It’s HOT. Our pool is really getting a workout. This year the water is crystal clear and the temperature is staying above 80F. Sheer heaven! I am starting to turn a lovely nut brown with all this sun.

Our air conditioning is also getting a workout which isn’t so good for the electric bill. For the past two nights now we’ve opened the windows and slept pretty well with a fan in the window.

Having a second-story bedroom is not ideal in the summer! Add to that the fact that our main attic fan quit a couple of months ago, which makes it all that much hotter upstairs since all that hot air is just trapped in the attic. I waited for the roofer to call all last week for the installation of two new ones (the other one over the garage space makes a huge racket and need replacing too) but due to rain he didn’t make it. He was scheduled to come on Saturday, but of course he was running behind and it just got too darn hot. So he rescheduled for this morning, and of course, we had a thunderstorm! Hopefully he’ll still make it today. [Nope. He just called and will try again tomorrow.]

Which brings me to the thunderstorm topic. This morning’s storm gave a few rumbles of thunder before it arrived and only a few more once it got here. I think I saw one little flash of lightning. That was it. We haven’t had a “real” thunderstorm yet this year. Usually we get house-rattling storms with lots of lightning and thunder. Other areas have gotten them, but here at the house they just don’t seem to materialize. I know it’s crazy, but I miss them. Somehow a good thunderstorm just discharges all that energy and washes the atmosphere clean again. This morning’s storm held promise but in the end it did not deliver. At least it rained.

Another reason we know that summer is really here, the cicadas have taken up their summer buzzy songs in the trees. They sing a different song during the day than they do at night. They love it when it gets hot and humid. During the day their song is just a steady buzzy trill—one note. At night it’s kind of like this —CHE CHE CHE ... che che che—one set of “che’s” being lower than the other, almost like they are talking to each other. The frogs are still in the background too at night, so it’s like a nature symphony. Very soothing.

We had a lovely drive to the market in Warwick on Sunday in Mia. The morning was beautiful and we took all the winding little back roads. We ate breakfast outside at the little French restaurant, sharing a baked egg, potato and ham casserole and sipping a huge bowl of café au lait.

On passing one of the shops as we made our way over the market, I couldn’t pass up this straw market bag. I am thinking it will also make a great beach bag for toting towels, books and whatever else we want on the beach with us when we go down the shore next month for a weekend. I love it!

The market was very busy and we were surprised and delighted to see fresh Jersey sweet corn (white! yum!) and the first of the tomatoes. Peaches are also now in season and so juicy and delicious! It’s best to eat them over a bowl or something to catch all the juice that dribbles down your chin.

I also could not resist this gorgeous sunflower for $2.00.

We took the “long way home” from the market. As we drove up our street a doe and her two tiny fawns were in the road right in front of our house. So beautiful! They dashed into the woods all too quickly.

When we got home we grilled spicy hot chicken wings (our go-to Sunday lunch) and then into the pool.

We decided to eat outside by the pool last night even though it was still pretty hot. I moved the furniture out of the cabana and set up the card table.

Last night we tried a new recipe, a sort of deconstructed BLT sandwich in salad form. It was the perfect meal for a hot day. Romaine lettuce, chopped bacon, chunks of fresh watermelon, orange cherry tomatoes from the market (super sweet!), fresh baguette croutons (done in a little of the bacon fat) and topped with a homemade Parmesan peppercorn dressing. Very very tasty. We’ll be having this again.

It’s kind of nice to have summer (compared to last year’s summer-that-wasn’t) but if this heat keeps up we’ll be glad when it’s over! Like this blossom that fell into the pool, we’re just trying to stay afloat through this second heat wave.

Stay cool!

P.S. Have you checked out the “On this day ...” feature on the right hand side of the blog? It’s right under “My Favorite Links” and features blog entries from previous years that I wrote on or around this same date. Check it out!

Yesterday we worshipped in the Temple of Nature. Right here.

And if this little cove was our temple, then this was the altar.

It’s been extremely hot here this past week with no rain, temperatures in the 90’s and the heat index up to 107! Saturday morning the heat wave finally broke and we got over 2 inches of much needed rain.

We vowed to each other that when we woke on Sunday morning we would feed the dogs and cats, throw on some clothes, toss the canoe on top of the truck and head out to Green Turtle pond again. We were on the pond by 7:30 a.m., which is pretty good for us.

The morning mist was still hovering near the surface of the water, leaving an almost monochromatic look to the scene.

But soon the sun burned off the mist and we were left with beautiful blue sky and still waters.

And look who was back again: Mr. Great Blue Heron. Same bird (probably). Same rock. Only this time I had my zoom lens.

A morning perfect for paddling as no breeze had yet started. We’ve figured out that the breeze starts around 8:15 and it usually catches us paddling back up the opposite side of the pond. We timed this trip just right.

My muscles were still a bit sore from last week, but it still felt good. I can’t tell you how peaceful it is out there in the early morning. Birdsong floats down through the trees and bullfrogs croak from the reeds.

I liked the colors and reflection of this fisherman.

After our paddle around the pond we came home, took showers, and headed off in Mia to the market in Warwick. Goat cheese (for our lunch), bread, and blueberries were on our list.

Lunch was a new recipe of Planked Figs: fresh halved figs dipped in Calvados and ground pepper, left to marinate for about 20 minutes, then wrapped in pancetta and topped with fresh goat cheese and a little fried pancetta and cooked on a cedar plank on the grill.  After cooking they were drizzled with wildflower honey. Delicious!

Eaten poolside, of course.

The rest of the day was spent in and around the pool. All in all, another lovely Sunday.

Yesterday we threw the canoe on top of the Suburban and headed down to Green Turtle Pond before it got too hot. The road, which was never very good, is deteriorating back to dirt. Not much is left of the pavement and what is still there makes for a very slow and bumpy ride. It is pretty though, like a dark green tunnel.

The pond was pretty quiet at that hour of the morning with only a few fisherman bobbing around the edges in their boats.

The canoe is such a thing of beauty, isn’t it?

It was a lovely morning to be paddling around. No breeze had as yet kicked up and the only ripples on the pond surface were from the prow of our canoe breaking the glass-like surface. Our oars dipped in and out of the water with a satisfying rhythm. As we passed the shoreline we heard a big PLOP! and looked in time to see the leftover wake of what was probably a turtle awakened from his on-shore slumber by our passing.

We stopped often to admire the view and the reflections.

We weren’t the only ones enjoying this beautiful morning. We disturbed a heron along the way.

(Sorry for the blur but I didn’t have a chance to change settings. Even though it’s blurry I still wanted to include it here.)

Some areas along the shoreline look like little planted-on-purpose gardens; like these reeds.

And these—all shimmery with sunlight.

I was totally captivated by the damsel flies and dragon flies in the shallow, more boggy parts of the pond. They zoomed and zipped around us at death defying speeds. I tried to capture a few flying by in the sunlight, but this was as close as I got. Can you see them?

Some used us a landing pad, either on my paddle or on the canoe, like these beautiful turquoise damsel flies. I remember my Mom used to call them ‘darning needles.’

We found this smallish bird hopping around in the reeds and spooked him up into the trees. We think it’s an immature double-crested cormorant. We watched him for quite a while.

(Right about now I was truly kicking myself for not bringing along my big zoom lens! Darn!)

They don’t call it Green Turtle pond for nothing! This turtle was sunning on a log until we paddled by.

We saw several other turtles in our trip around the pond; just heads poking up above the surface of the water. Every time I tried to capture them with the camera they ducked back underwater. Sly turtles!

All in all, a lovely paddle trip!

WHEW. It’s hot out there. And no rain. Weird for us. In fact, I had to turn on the sprinkler for the first time in a couple of years. My bee balm was fading and looking pretty sad. Unlike Colorado, most people do not have underground sprinkler systems because it rains so much. We depend on the rain to keep our yards looking good.

Our day was pretty low key compared to yesterday with guests. We washed Mia very early and took a short drive. We were home by noon. The afternoon was spent around the pool. Dinner was a new recipe on the grill which neither one of us cared for all that much. Oh well.

Early evening found us around the pool again. The pool is 82 degrees and feels like bath water. We’ve seen a few bats this year, not as many as in years past, but at least it’s good to see a few.

Here is as strange photo taken at a low exposure as Rick swam in front of me.

Poolside candles reflected in the water.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Wow. Our weather is awesome. Other than needing some rain, I can’t complain one whit. Sun. Warm without humidity (that won’t last long). Pool gorgeous.

What better setting could we ask for since our very first pool party/BBQ is happening later today!

Our pulled pork is cooking on the grill outside.

The sky is blue.

The recliner chaise lounges await sunbathers.

The pool toys are standing by ready for use.

Maybe a game of boules (or bocci) later on.

So I ask you, does it get any better than this?