Junuary

My mom says that "Junuary" is what the Seattle radio and TV stations are calling this chillier than usual month. But it isn't just in Seattle.

Judy and I have listened to people talk about the relative cold, and an unforgiving wind, from Marin County, California, up to Bellingham, Washington. And in the Mat-Su Valley in Alaska, Derek Casanovas, fom the Frontiersman reports that, "a chilly and moist spring has forced farmers to plant crops late, and means Alaska Grown products will hit store shelves and farmers’ markets later than usual and at higher prices."

We planted our garden on Memorial Day, because, leaving the state the following day for almost three weeks, we had to. Our son and the caretaker report very little growth in the garden.

Here are morning temperatures today at selected cities, with their current temperature, followed by the predicted high for today:

Eureka, CA -- 54 -- 58
Portland, OR -- 54 -- 58
Seattle, WA -- 50 -- 52
Bellingham, WA -- 50 -- 53
Homer, AK -- 46 -- 55
Anchorage, AK -- 50 --59
Palmer, AK -- 50 -- 64

The nicest thing about the coolness for us in our travels, especially along the northern California coast, and through rural Oregon, is that the rhododendrons are still in bloom, weeks after they normally would have shed their colorful petals.