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So, I don't know what if any of this is anomalous. Yes, Seattle just set a record for most rain during September (dataset goes to 1945, there is no official weather station in Bellevue), in what struck me as a wet but not exceptional month.
What's catching my attention is that autumn seems both late and very drawn out. Most of the trees are still green, though there are some gorgeous trees covered entirely in bright red leaves a couple of blocks south, which I was looking at while I exercised today), but I started seeing bits of yellow and orange on healthy trees in mid-August. Trees which still have those leaves, this isn't like the old sugar maple in Inwood Hill Park that always turned color early and dropped its leaves early.
I had fresh local nectarine in my yogurt yesterday morning, and fresh local raspberries this morning. Yes, the vendor at the farmers' market told me this was the last week for berries, but another farmer (not there this past Saturday) had told me the same two weeks earlier. We were also told that there would probably be no nectarines next week, but plums are likely into November.
Someone told me back in August that this was the best summer in several years, in terms of fruit and vegetables. He was talking about how much fruit and how good it was; is it usual for there to be nectarines and berries through much if not all of September?
Meanwhile, rhododendrons are flowering. Not one random blossom: this went from a single branch I saw on one bush, and a few separated blossoms on another, to a small bushes that are behaving entirely as if it's spring, with bright flowers on all or most of their branches: bright purple on 102nd Avenue near the QFC, and two bushes with white flowers on NE 6th Street near the Westin. I also saw a couple of anomalous yellow irises (one plant, next to that first rhododendron branch last week). The periwinkles go merrily along, a blossom here and a few there; back in New York and Boston, those are spring flowers, and the occasional patch with a few blossoms left is a June thing, not a September one.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cattitude and I keep stopping and looking at periwinkle patches, no longer surprised, but just because we like periwinkles.
[Yes, this is a small thing, but I'll want to remember it, and I don't think I have anything useful to add about the Republicans trying to hold us all for ransom via the government shutdown.]
What's catching my attention is that autumn seems both late and very drawn out. Most of the trees are still green, though there are some gorgeous trees covered entirely in bright red leaves a couple of blocks south, which I was looking at while I exercised today), but I started seeing bits of yellow and orange on healthy trees in mid-August. Trees which still have those leaves, this isn't like the old sugar maple in Inwood Hill Park that always turned color early and dropped its leaves early.
I had fresh local nectarine in my yogurt yesterday morning, and fresh local raspberries this morning. Yes, the vendor at the farmers' market told me this was the last week for berries, but another farmer (not there this past Saturday) had told me the same two weeks earlier. We were also told that there would probably be no nectarines next week, but plums are likely into November.
Someone told me back in August that this was the best summer in several years, in terms of fruit and vegetables. He was talking about how much fruit and how good it was; is it usual for there to be nectarines and berries through much if not all of September?
Meanwhile, rhododendrons are flowering. Not one random blossom: this went from a single branch I saw on one bush, and a few separated blossoms on another, to a small bushes that are behaving entirely as if it's spring, with bright flowers on all or most of their branches: bright purple on 102nd Avenue near the QFC, and two bushes with white flowers on NE 6th Street near the Westin. I also saw a couple of anomalous yellow irises (one plant, next to that first rhododendron branch last week). The periwinkles go merrily along, a blossom here and a few there; back in New York and Boston, those are spring flowers, and the occasional patch with a few blossoms left is a June thing, not a September one.
cattitude and I keep stopping and looking at periwinkle patches, no longer surprised, but just because we like periwinkles.[Yes, this is a small thing, but I'll want to remember it, and I don't think I have anything useful to add about the Republicans trying to hold us all for ransom via the government shutdown.]