Junuary

Washington State has been cold. The first week of June was the coldest on record, and a recent Seattle Times headline read "Colder than Siberia," which in fact, we were. I'm doing laundry this morning, and it's almost all sweatshirts. I've heard the term "Junuary" used to describe this miserable month.
My friends on the east coast have been way too hot; their blogs bemoan the loss of useful midday activities as they succumb to the urge to stay inside or nap and try to work their writing time around the unusual weather. Another friend just posted about her family being unable to get to the store etc. because of the floods in Iowa (and they're among the lucky; their house isn't under water).
Maybe now that both parties appear to have a nominee, we'll start to hear some political chatter about this. We could use some leadership on the issue from Mr. Obama, who seems to have the ear of a lot of people, and who speaks astonishingly well. Let's hope he doesn't wait until after the election to get loud on this issue.

A Conversation at Starbucks

In a line at Starbucks yesterday:

"It cost me $50.00 to fill up my tank."
Grunt. "Cost me $75. Did you see that show about Tesla?"
"The car. That's cool."
Admiringly: "Guy was pretty smart, too."
In agreement "Yeah."
"Bet we coulda had electric cars earlier. Tesla knew a lot."
"Yep."