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Thursday, July 14, 2011

The heat is just oppressive...and a bit depressing.  This has not been a stellar garden year with so little rain and such high temperatures.  We did get a little rain last night...the first in weeks, but we are way behind in rainfall for the last two years.

Knowing that they would be cooler, I checked the temperatures for Edinburgh, and right now the temperatures are in the high 60's!  I'm so looking forward to the Fringe Festival.  Erin, Amelia, and I will be there in August!

Books to be reviewed:

In the Belly of Jonah by Sandra Brannon (Kay sent me this one!)
Miss Peregrines' Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (loved the old photos)
Fourth Day by Zoe Sharp (Charlie Fox is like a female Jack Reacher)
Trespasser by Paul Doiron (new to me mystery author)
Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander (Lady Emily hasn't been as interesting in the last two books)
Perfect Alibi by Sheldon Siegel (not that great)

Currently Reading:  The Final Reckoning by Sam Bourne

Amelia recommends The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (which was already on my list) and The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston (which she says makes her doubt the verdict in the Amanda Knox case).  Preston and crime reporter Mario Spezi wrote this nonfiction best seller, and George Clooney will play Douglas Preston in the film version.  Now, that should be worth watching.

Although Preston and Spezi were originally trying to determine the identity of the Monster of Florence, interesting facts concerning those who participated in the Monster of Florence investigation seem to make the Amanda Knox case worthy of renewed interest and doubt.

9 comments:

  1. Ugh, I'm there with you on the heat, girlfriend. We are baking down here - truly baking. I just try to get everything done by noon and I don't even open the blinds. Here's the expected numbers for next 6 days, starting with today, 103, 104, 101, 103, 105, 100.

    I'm so excited that you will be in Scotland. How wonderful. Hopefully, hubby and I will get to go there one day. Maybe. Keep cool!

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  2. First we had nonstop rain... Now we are getting crazy high temperatures. Not as high as other places, of course, but high for here!

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  3. Kay - It is truly awful, isn't it. I was just reading an article in the local paper: Time to Plant a Fall Garden...If You Have the Heart. I've already let things burn up and don't have the heart to try to start anything in this heat!

    Yep, the trip to Scotland will be such a wonderful respite. The Fringe Festival is a delightful experience and the weather will be adding to the pleasure.

    Kailana - This has been the worst year for weather extremes I ever remember. Floods, drought, fire, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis...Mother Nature does not seem best pleased!

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  4. We have typical central European weather at the moment which means, two days very hot, two days rain...One day cool and back to hot again. The temperature drops are quite drastic. 55 in the morning, 90 in the afternoon. Funny enough I also think when it is hot and sunny for too long it gets depressing. The plants starts dying.
    I envy you for your trip to Edinburgh.

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  5. Caroline - I can't imagine 55 in the morning, sounds wonderful; but that is quite an extreme in temperatures in one day!

    Amelia and I went to the Fringe Festival over ten years ago, and besides just loving Edinburgh, the Festival has been something we've talked about returning for ever since! Erin has never been, and we know how thrilled she will be with all of the street performances--an added incentive.

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  6. I'm jealous that you're going to Edinburgh! That will be such a lovely break from the Louisiana heat. My poor parents' air-conditioning broke earlier this year! Ugh.

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  7. Jenny - How to exist without air conditioning in Louisiana? Hope your parents didn't have to suffer, drenched in sweat, for too long!

    I'm really thrilled at the thought of the cooler temps in Edinburgh.

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  8. Oh, yes, the heat has been miserable and the gardening? I've lost many, many plants. Even some of my my drought-resistant plants have keeled over. I'll have to either start out fresh, next year, or just stick with bare-bones (monkey grass and hostas) and put away the planters. Now that we're traveling more, I'm not sure I want to take the risk of just throwing money out the window on things like lavender.

    It was hot in the Tube in London but otherwise so pleasant. You'll really love the break from the Southern heat, especially in a month like August. There's no other way to put it. August SUCKS in the Deep South.

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  9. Nancy - This has not been a good year for flowers. Strangely, my two lavender plants are doing better than some of my other drought resistant plants. It must be their location. Mostly, I've given up on flowering plants this year.

    One year when a friend and I went to London, they were having a heat snap with temperatures in the low 80's; the news would report people passing out from the heat. There were warnings about sun burn and heat exhaustion.

    I also loved the way they would say, "freshening winds off the coast."

    No freshening winds around here yesterday. :(

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