Early Morning at Green Lake

8/1/15 ink, watercolor

Here in Seattle, we’ve been breaking all kinds of weather records this summer. Highest average temps, most number of days in the year with temps of 90 or higher, hottest July ever recorded, driest summer. Whew – even blogging about it makes me sweat!

One sure bet about heat in these parts, though, is that no matter how hot it gets during the day, it cools down overnight, so by early morning, it’s actually chilly enough to wear a sweater in the shade. Such was the case at 6:30 a.m. when I headed for Green Lake today. Last night’s Blue Moon was setting, and Mt. Rainier was clearly visible.

I rarely visit the Green Lake Starbucks because it’s almost always mobbed, especially on Saturday, but I arrived early enough that I found exactly the table I wanted. Although they aren’t oaks, this line of trees leading from the street to the lake always reminds me of Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana. Instead of an antebellum Big House, it’s the Green Lake community center at the other end. And unlike Louisiana this time of year, the air was still cool and crisp. The sunlight dappling the tree trunks changed by the second.

Even in spite of our broken heat records, I’d rather be here in the summer than just about anywhere else on earth.