ME III: Aster beauty

· Maine Event

It turned out that today was gloriously sunny with a low of 48° and a high of 64°. The air feels crisp and dry. My skin and eyes also feel dry — probably from the heat and temperature change. We are expecting rain on the weekend! Today we had a little breeze which felt fresh and lively. It was another busy workday with many meetings so it felt like I got very little work done. We were woken up super early by an alarm similar to a smoke alarm but is for carbon and gas appliances here. It just needed a new battery!

I read another interesting article from the Guardian about a loophole to have air quality events removed from their EPA records. What is interesting about this to me is when we have big air quality events people tend not to walk, ride their bikes, etc to protect themselves, but collectively we all need to reduce actions that cause pollution. This is a classic managing the commons issue: air and water can demonstrate that so well. We all need to figure out how to help each other and manage these resources well. With the air quality monitors, there is no reason why we shouldn't be aiming for single-digit air quality readings — why not zero. I think the measurements showing 0-50 as "Green" is a misnomer - why should we think 50 is good. It's 50 times worse than good and more is even worse. Personally, I start to feel poorly with an air quality reading of 50.

Aster seed heads. Works of art and things of beauty.
Trees are all changing and the islands beckon
Wowzers!
Check out this wall. It gets better each day.
Where are those Cats of Portland?
Lovely trees and quiet streets
Arcturus in the western sky.
Sending love to each of you in a special packet or on a flag.

Have a wonderful evening.

Sending love, Tawnia

Good collection of birds today – 14 species: