Tuesday 14 February 2017

Scenes from a Scorcher

Today, an overcast sky and a gentle breeze offer a welcome contrast to the sweltering temperatures from the latest heatwave of our Summer. Days on end of high temperatures seems to be the way of things this season, so when a cooler day comes along, it dawns with something akin to blessed relief.

The extremely hot conditions over the weekend just past kept us inside most of the time. It reached 43C in the shade of our covered deck, shadecloth blinds down, on Sunday. It was 40C at 10:30 in the morning! Had we put the thermometer out in the sun, that needle would've nudged way higher. 

Our heatwave days looked like this:


The hot Summer sun rises out beyond our back deck. 

The temperature reached 40C on our shaded deck at 10:30a.m. Sunday morning.

Early morning sprinkler watering the avocado tree.

Keeping the water up to salad greens like lettuce. 

Skinks, like this one, were active in the garden.

 An old bedsheet to shade our native bee hives.
(Before we secured it.)

Simple foods/meals were prepared without adding extra heat. 
(Homemade peanut butter.)

Reading books and watching a movie were our afternoon activities.
(All borrowed from our local library...free!)

Refreshing, homemade treats like these were essential!


Heatwaves do thankfully come to an end though the temperature is set climb again throughout the week here. Think I'll need to make more of those icepops for next weekend!

Have you been experiencing weather extremes where you live? How do you prepare for them? 

Meg













12 comments:

  1. It has been the longest, hottest, driest summer I can remember!
    We have a cool day here today...at last...it's only 29!

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    1. It's definitely the hottest Summer I can remember in our area too, Cheryl. Cooler days seem to be the exception this Summer with hot to very hot days the norm. Meg:)

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  2. I made the sugarfree mango icecream and put it in icy pole containers which was great in the heat. However seeing as there is a cup of cream in a batch I might try a different recipe for the next hot day. Isn't it lovely to get some respite for a few days, Meg?

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    1. I really enjoyed the cooler day today, Chel. These heatwave days tend to frustrate me because I would rather be outside, in my garden, than stuck inside because of the heat. Meg:)

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  3. Meg, I so wish I could share some of our cooler air with you. Today was springlike weather here in my part of the world with it hitting the upper 40's fahrenheit. I do not do extreme heat well at all, in fact it makes me ill. I do hope you get some relief from your heat soon.

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    1. I'd love some of that cooler air over where you live, Debbie. Send it over! With the extreme heat here, there were warnings on the radio and television about taking care in the high heat conditions. Meg:)

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  4. 55`c outside here on sunday at 3:45pm. though it wasn't humid so made it a lot more bearable, Monday was awful with the humidity back, used to revel in the heat, not any more. winter is looking good
    those ice pops look good
    thanx for sharing

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    1. Hi, Selina. I can't remember the heat bothering me as a child growing up in the Far North of Qld (probably because we spent the Summer's swimming in the local creek) but as I get older I find I like the cooler weather much better than sweltering in the heat. The ice pops were delicious. We found the mint flavour really refreshing, I halved the amount of sugar in the original recipe too (as I always find less of the stuff is better.) I hope it's cooler for you up your way today. Meg:)

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  5. Reading and watching a movie are the best things to do in the hot weather, the less moving around the better as far as I am concerned. I usually plan on having sandwiches and salads when hot weather is forecast, homemade icepops can be added to that now.

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    1. Hi, Pip. We really enjoyed the movies we watched. I had a good chuckle watching one of them with my son. There is a scene where the main character fills his entire house with snow so as to try and create a suitable environment for penguins. I would've liked a room full of snow on Sunday! Meg:)

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  6. I do like all your heatwave activities and those ice pops looks so delicious.

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    1. The peppermint flavour of the icepops was very refreshing, welcome on such a hot day. I like that they are made with yoghurt (I just used a plain Greek one) which gives them a bit of a tang. Meg:)

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