We noticed the bright orange sunset the night before last. Yesterday during the day it was obvious that the haze in the sky is smoke. It is likely that the smoke is drifting south from a couple of wildfires burning in the Peace River region of British Columbia. The fire season in British Columbia has not been bad - a bit better than recent years, but conditions are hot and dry and September promises to be a tough month for firefighters. So far, Western Washington has escaped major wildfires. It has been a low fire year for Washington and Oregon while fires in California continue to be a cause of concern.

We’ve lived near forests enough of our life to have a special sensitivity to the smell of smoke. I was sniffing the air and wondering where the smoke was coming from as soon as I went outside for the first time yesterday. When we opened up the house to cool it in the evening, we noticed the smoke smell. After a few days we’ll become more used to it, but we will continue to wish for winds that clear the smoke from our skies without winds that make conditions worse for those combatting wildfires.

The locals tell me that we are suffering a heat wave. Daytime highs in the high sixties and low seventies doesn’t seem like much of a heat wave to me. Overnight lows are in the fifties, which is enough to keep our house comfortable without turning on the air conditioner. We had a rule in our house when I was a kid: If it is 50 degrees or warmer, you can go to school or church without a jacket. If it is cooler than 50 you have to wear a jacket when you go out of the house. I grew up in a time and place where we didn’t wear short pants to school or to church. I spent almost all of the other days in the summer in cut off jeans and short sleeves. My usual summer attire was a t-shirt and cutoffs. Returning to school meant having to wear long pants and “real” shirts over our t-shirts. I was never eager for that attire.

A couple of bouts with squamous cell carcinoma have made me cautious about sun exposure. After a lifetime of not being particularly careful about sun and sunburn, I have reached a stage in life where it makes sense to me to be extra cautious. According to a couple of dermatologists I have seen, while squamous cell carcinoma is easily treated, early detection is the key. Therefore it is recommended that I be examined by a dermatologist every six months until I have been free of cancer for five years. The problem is that so far I haven’t been able to make it five years between bouts with the abnormal cells. That keeps me aware of the risk of sun exposure because I get the lecture about broad brimmed hats and long sleeves every six months. I’ve been pretty careful lately about following the doctor’s recommendations. I wear long pants and long sleeves every day, even in the summer.

This summer, however, hasn’t been uncomfortable for me. We’ve had a few days that got hot, but not more than I remember from other years. The warm weather came later in the summer than the previous year. Two years is all of my experience in this part of the country. So far, I’d say that it is a bit cooler here than the other places I’ve lived. Since I’m not a big fan of hot weather in the first place, the weather around here is just fine with me. Not only do we have few days that require much planning to avoid the heat, there are very few days when I need more than a hooded sweatshirt for the cold. I decided that it was a good idea to keep my parka for a couple of days use last winter, but I rarely have a jacket of any kind along with me. After all, I still adhere to the 50 degree rule.

The beach was full of folks watching the sunset last evening as we walked. It is a long weekend in Canada as well as the US, the last long weekend of the summer. The influx of tourists makes for some interesting people watching for us. I’m not sure why some folks set up their chairs in the back of their pickup when the beach is just a few steps away, but they were causing no problems for others. It wasn’t cool enough to need a fire, but campfires are probably more about atmosphere than keeping warm in the first place, and most kids are always up for s’mores. The smoke from the campfires didn’t make a noticeable change in the sky which was already hazy. I continue to be amazed at how quickly the days shorten in this part of the world. Walking after dinner has been comfortable for a couple of months, but we won’t be able to do so in daylight much longer. We’ve walked past sunset the last two evenings. We live in a safe place and walking after dark isn’t a problem, but we’re likely to return to the practice of walking earlier in the day as the days continue to get shorter and shorter. I’m sure our son isn’t eager to be back to driving to and from work in the dark, but the short days of winter seem to the be the price of the long days of summer.

Since we don’t have children at home, our lives are not as dependent upon school schedules as once was the case. We notice because we pay attention to our grandchildren, but we are not immediately impacted by which weekends are school holidays. We plan to take a week or 10 days of vacation in September. We have a good chance of good weather and less crowded conditions than during the summer. And we live in a place where others come for their vacations. We get to watch the sun set over the bay whenever we want.