Jolly July

Clouds from the evening thunderstorm on Monday

     Once again it is the end of the month and I have failed at posting. It's summer though, and I am definitely enjoying my vacation, so I hope you can all forgive me. Today's post is a quick catch-up of this month, all tied together by the rather odd weather we've been having.

      The month started off with all 4th of July festivities being postponed due to Hurricane Arthur. The first arm of the storm hit us on the evening of July 3, and I was pretty disappointed that I was already in bed (I had to be at work by 6:30 the next morning), because the thunder and lightning were simply awe-inspiring and I really wanted to stay up and watch the storm. The morning of the 4th was actually fairly clear, but by the afternoon the rain and clouds had returned. Of course, the bad weather didn't stop some of my neighbors from celebrating with fireworks anyway. Then again, not much seems to stop Massachusettsans from celebrating with fireworks. I saw or heard fireworks quite frequently all throughout June and July, even though all fireworks are illegal here in MA (aside from the public displays, which every city seems to throw). Luckily Arthur passed by soon and the weekend was just one big 4th (or 5th or 6th) of July celebration after another. Salem's was on the 6th, and it was well worth the wait. It began with a concert at Pickering Wharf (a somewhat eclectic selection of music that included the themes from "Lord of the Dance," "Mission Impossible," and "Saving Private Ryan," as well as some classical selections) and flowed directly into the fireworks show. Although I'm familiar with the 1812 Overture, I don't think I'd ever seen it played live and choreographed with a fireworks show before. Apparently that's pretty common over here though. I quite enjoyed it. 

     After the 4th of July weekend was over, I began to realize why a friend had told me that June, and not July, is their favorite month in New England. The days of sunshine and warmth, with the perfect breezes, were over. The temperature started climbing and soon we were dealing with days when it felt too hot to even move. My roommate and I are planning on running a 5K at some point in the near-ish future, but my training certainly took a hit this month. I still play softball on my church's team though, but at least the games are at night when things have (hopefully) cooled off a bit. I've also managed to escape north a couple times to not only explore more of New England, but find slightly cooler weather. One weekend I drove to Maine with two friends to visit the camp where they used to work. I was introduced to Old Orchard Beach, had my first Raspberry Lime Rickey, learned to play carpetball and shuffleboard, and watched birds on the beach. Then, last weekend, I was able to hike in New Hampshire. My original plan had been to climb Mt. Washington with some friends, but when they had to cancel I decided that I couldn't waste my hard-earned day off and decided to climb Mt. Kearsarge with two other friends. It worked out beautifully because my sister's in-laws, and my dear friends, were at a fair in Tilton that day so I got to see them before the hike. I even got some new earrings and bags of kettle corn from Kingdom Kernels Kettle Corn to take up the mountain! It was perfect treat to add to a lovely day with friends. 

After winning our first playoff game!

     As much as I love the days of sunshine, breezes, and temps in the 70s or 80s, I will admit that I do enjoy some of the crazy weather patterns the hotter temperatures can cause. One morning I watched heat lightning dance across the sky, and one of the softball games earlier this month was almost called due to a tornado and thunderstorm warning. No tornado appeared that day, and we finished just before the thunderstorm arrived. That tornado warning was not the only we've had this month though. This Monday I had settled in for a long morning of reading spooky stories while a thunderstorm raged outside when, suddenly, my phone went crazy and started blaring alarms. A tornado warning had just been issued for Salem and my phone seemed very intent that I should know. In fact, it continued to go off every two minutes for the next twenty minutes with each and every update. After the initial shock wore off, I was not amused. I really don't like to have my reading plans interrupted, especially when it's so rare for me to get the entire apartment to myself. Soon enough the storm passed, no tornado hit Salem (though one did land in Revere and actually caused some damage to my coworker's old high school), and the sun was out and shining as if nothing had ever happened. Thunderstorms returned that evening and threatened the first softball play-off game, but ultimately did nothing but sprinkle a bit of rain on us and display some rather gorgeous clouds for us to enjoy. And we won our game, bad weather and all!

     All in all, it's been a very good month here in Salem, changeable weather and all. There's more I could say, but instead I'll just end this post with a few snapshots of my life over here.

Lobster roll at the Salem Seafood Festival

New Hampshire countryside

Ready for the 4th in the Historic District of Salem

Empty produce aisles in the Salem Market Basket

Celebrating my coworkers' birthdays with a Pal Around

Mother duck and ducklings in the Greenlawn Cemetery

Hiking Mt. Kearsarge

Kettle corn for our hike

The view from the top of Mt. Kearsarge in NH