A deliciously cool morning, from our entryway bench

Cool morning air gently stirs the upper tree leaves and branches. A scarlet male cardinal pauses briefly in the grass below our river birch's low branches. The red geranium in the pot at the front step blooms again after a quiet few weeks. Not a cloud in the blue, blue sky.

I hear the gentle clatter of Son2 getting his breakfast... cars going by on the cross street... the gas mower working the grass on the far side of the cross street... and, in the intervals (oh, there went a motorcycle), bird song.

The only thing I can smell is laundry! Sadly, it's the overpowering smell of (too much) softener in someone's clothes dryer, pouring out the dryer vent and into the morning air. Oh well.

Our tall orange daylilies -- so very tall in this year of plentiful rain -- have finished blooming, their flower stalks stiff and drying even as they lend support to some stems of Mexican hat, which will bloom much longer. The short, russet daylilies started blooming later and have a few buds of promise still. The red-orange-yellow The sunny yellow coreopsis has been in a lull for several weeks; I think they'll bloom again next month, but we'll see.

The morning is especially delicious because the humidity was low yesterday and last night, and the temperature didn't reach 90F yesterday. I opened the house up shortly before dusk, and it cooled down wonderfully overnight -- much more than the frugal use of the air conditioning would. Great, great sleeping weather for summer. In half an hour or so we'll close up the house for the day to preserve the cool into a warmer day today.