Smoke and Cold.

6-7-23 SHORT HILLS: We’re back in NJ in the cold and dark—a combination of smoke from the Canadian wild fires and the low pressure system stuck over Nova Scotia. The smoke is like a dense fog, except there’s a yellowish cast to everything and the burning-wood smell.

Yesterday I filled the feeders, fed the house plants now outside, got new tires for my car.

New blooms: southern magnolia, catalpa, red spirea, pink lamium, white clover, rose. 

Southern magnolia. These huge flowers start one day, open the next, and turn brown the third day. The funny color is from the smoke. It's like there's a huge barbeque in the neighborhood.

The whole tree, in mid-day darkness.

Catalpa flowers and big leaves.

The catalpa in the smoke.

Smoky skies.