It is Labor Day here (for once I use the weird spelling, in deference to geography, etc) and, as usual it is incredibly hot. Already at 92 degrees by lunchtime, and I’m in a relatively cool part of the city. Tomorrow will have lots of pictures in the newspaper of amazing scenes of people sunning themselves on the beach, filling up Santa Monica and Venice beaches in a way that is impressive, given how huge those beaches are.
I don’t actually understand this traditional cooperation from the weather. It seems to consistently get super hot just in time for this symbolic “last day of summer”, at least for the last three years I remember. Back in England, the traditional set up is that on a long holiday weekend, by time the holiday Monday comes, it is raining. People are used to this and plan for it. There are exceptions from time to time, but that’s the tradition as I recall it. Has this changed in Blair’s new Britain, I wonder?
Well, here are some shots from other traditional holiday weekend activity…
I should go and cycle by the beaches or something, but it is way too hot to go out right now (although I managed to get a couple of hours of morning hiking in the park to test out my boots’ repair). So I’m going to hibernate for a while. Then I’ll do some physics. Plenty of time for holiday fun once the sun sets.
-cvj
Dear spyder, our beautiful blue-green mudball Earth is still cooling from the energy of its formation and subsequent meteoritic impacts, so our lively volcanoes are a natural result of our planet relieving itself of its internal heat. More than one erupting at once is a healthy sign…
Odd that Mt St Helen’s has been venting as well. It began in earnest around the 21st of August, synchronicitously as a friend and i were standing in our production office, that has a magnificent view of the peak from Portland. We were happily treated to a lovely burst, a wow show, and then the sunset and it got dark. As i flew in and out of Portland in the last couple of weeks since, i have been treated to more of the show, and another good burst blurped up on Labor Day. Etna, St Helens, mmmmm oh well.
Etna is putting on a lovely show this evening. The new eruption is so lovely (I wish there was audio!), that I have my web browser with the webcam view of Etna open in one window, while I do my work with the rest of my computer. Etna is providing a relaxing ‘Etna in motion’ view to gaze and ponder upon every once in a while. The nights are the best!
There is a ‘hot holiday weekend’ in progress at Mount Etna presently too. She has been an uncharacteristically nervous lady (blog from a hotel that keeps tabs on her), and not breathing in her usual way. After flowing and stopping suddenly last July, then shaking a bit, then taking a rest (while I visited her), then sputtering a bit last weekend, she is now relaxing into her more typical lava flow. The webcam view of Etna is beautiful at night (now).
Bank holiday weather continues to be hit and miss…you know the drill — ‘changeable’. But it wasn’t too bad in the end last Monday, as it only sprinkled a wee bit, then the brilliant blue skies came out.
A record of August bank holiday weather:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/metinfo/NFL/lsbh.htm