My dad always used to say we'd have a January thaw... even if we had to wait till February for it. Well, this year it came bang on time, right in the middle of the month. We're back to the deep freeze, but here are some photos from that lovely week in mid-January:

It's almost mid-October, and today it's 28C/82F outside. WTF?

I still have forget-me-nots blooming. Hell, I still have roses blooming!

I'm not complaining, but I do wonder about climate-change deniers. I've lived for more than 4 decades here, and I cannot remember a (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend like this: bright sunshine, high temperatures. A friend of mine declared on Facebook that she and her partner are having Thanksgiving dinner on the deck. That's just unnatural, people. Nice--very nice--but totally unnatural.

We're having a pretty poor autumn as far as foliage displays, too. Normally by this time, the leaves have all changed to bright oranges, reds, and golds. This year, what leaves haven't been stripped off the trees by the high winds we've had are still green, or just turning brown.

It's just weird.

The meteorologists call it a "heat dome"... so we're under the dome... I'm blaming Stephen King. :-p

Actually, we're not quite under the dome here, but I must say... 26C (78.8F for you non-metric folks) is not normal for this part of the world. Add the humidity, and 26 feels like 35 (95F). I know, I know, to some of you, that's a doddle. And I hate to complain, but damn it, it's hard to breathe! And there's no AC at work. Nope. None at all. We have air exchangers. :-p My only hope will be that I'll have to go down the back of the store via the frozen foods section...

(Oh, that 26C? That's in the city, which is on the Bay of Fundy, which means cooler temps. I'm inland of that. I haven't dared to look at the thermometer since 8 AM, when it was 27C/80.6F.)

I've spent the afternoon here in the Chatroom, drinking water and trying not to move much (apart from the obvious trips to the loo... 's what happens when you drink that much water). I'm fairly comfortable at the moment, but I'm gonna have to get ready for work soon... and then actually go to work... and then I'm house-sitting all weekend. My brother's house is not as well set up for the heat as this one is. I have a feeling I'm going to have to sleep with the blind up so I can have the window open. :-p

We've had spectacular downpours in the last 24 hours. I woke up early yesterday morning to the sound of rain bucketing down and thought, "Well, so much for my three miles today," but by the time I'd actually got up, it was over; by afternoon the sun was out. Then last night about 10:20, I drove home with lightning flashing all about. When I reached the ferry, the rain had started, and by the time I drove onto the ferry (which was sitting there waiting for me--glee!), it was bucketing down again. That lasted for less than a quarter of an hour, because by the time I pulled into my own driveway, it was all over.

So this morning, which dawned bright and sunny, I had a quick wander round the garden. So far the bamboo skewers seem to be stymieing the cats--at least I didn't see any dug-up areas in the tulip bed. And there's no ant movement near the rosebush, which is promising.

If the blossoms are anything to go by, I'm going to have an awful lot of tomatoes. I hope they don't ripen all at once, or I could be in trouble... or making a helluva lot of fresh salsa!

And I have bachelor's buttons! Yay! I know, I know, I did plant them, but I wasn't sure anything was going to come up in that bed, because once again, the cats were into it, but I do have several bachelor's buttons up, and one blooming. I haven't seen those since I was a wee girlie and gardening with my dad's mum. :-)