We're forecast to stay in the 80s until Friday. Living in Alaska, we don't have air conditioning, so 85 outside means 85 inside. Being able to get a crossbreeze through in the evenings has been the one thing making bedtime bearable. This morning, we woke up to rust-tinted sunlight, a haze obscuring even the far side of the driveway, and one of my least-favorite scents of summer: smoke.
Summer is "fire season," but in our part of the state we really haven't seen any smoke or fires yet this year. Last night, though, a lot of smoke blew in from a wildfire about an hour and a half south of us. Our Air Quality Index this morning was moderate-to-unhealthy, and forecast to get worse in the evening. With Kit not even a week old, we couldn't risk bringing that smoke in by opening up the house like we usually do to cool everything down, and by midday everyone was hot and grumpy. Matt picked up three bags of ice from the gas station around 3, and we tested out the common suggestion of setting a bowl full of ice in front of a fan. It sort of worked... for ten minutes at a time, and then the bowl was full of water. We were not exactly optimistic about the coming night.
At 5, Matt went out to start the grill (no way are we turning on the stove/oven in this heat!) and quickly called me outside: the smoke was gone! The light is definite still filtering through smoke—the sky is still grey, and the light has a ruddy cast—but the smell of smoke is gone, and the haze is off toward the next hill rather than right across the driveway. We quickly opened doors and windows; the house will be cool enough for sleeping tonight! Thank you, Lord, for shifting the wind!
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