Two days ago the other DrC informed me she sees the wild asters blooming. Old WY wives' tales hold that when the asters bloom we will have another 8 weeks of summer.
She has a photo at her website, and they are for sure in bloom. Given our altitude here (6300 ft.), 8 weeks more summer is about right.
Technically summer is about 92 days long, or ca. 3 months. That's at sea level, we're 1.2 miles above sea level so what feels like summer is more like 2 months, but as she notes those are a wonderful two months. None finer that we know of - warm short sleeve days, cool nights for sound sleep, low humidity, and beautiful green fields and hillsides.
Relocating twice a year from mountains to desert and back, we get a lot of that sort of weather. It is the "snow bird" life and we'll do it as long as we're able, realism suggests eventually it will be too much for us to handle.
When that day arrives, it will be a sad milestone in long, and mostly happy lives. Alas, sad milestones become more frequent as we age.
