Blue (in a good way)

With all the complaining I do about the unfavorable weather here in western Washington, I need to create some balance by celebrating the good days.  And lately, there have been a lot of good days.  Summer did not arrive on time, at the exact moment my little ticker turned over and started counting the other direction.  But it has arrived nonetheless.

Two weeks ago, I went to Boise, Idaho, for my cousin's wedding.  When I left Washington, it was still a bit chilly and cloudy, but not as bad as it had been at the very end of spring.  I was glad to get away to sunny, warm, beautiful Boise and the mountains outside the city, where the wedding took place.  Speaking to my girlfriend on the phone that weekend, I was informed that the Washington skies continued to be gray.

Since arriving home a week and a half ago, though, I've been incredibly fortunate.  Some summers, the weather will stay cool and wet into the middle of July.  This year, the warm days began shortly before July 4, giving us a better than usual holiday.  At times during the past couple of weeks, I've even been hotter than I'd like.  But I refuse to complain about that.  I figure that if I whine about the cold, I'm not allowed to whine about the heat.  And the truth is, with so much cold throughout the year, I really don't mind the heat.

Western Washington is a breathtakingly beautiful place, with its trees, mountains, and water. (In fact, I think I just saw an eagle fly over the inlet outside my window.) But it's so much easier to appreciate all that beauty when the gray covering is lifted and the spectacle is well lit and accompanied by what I consider one of nature's most appealing sights: a clear, blue sky.

Not the most recent photo, but you can't argue with that view. (That's my brother in the foreground and a friend behind him.)