"See the jungle when it's wet with rain..."

And at last it is. Wet. With rain. Soft, gentle, constant. Almost the whole day. I couldn't keep my eyes off the palm trees at the back of our property -- a whole spectrum of green geometrics: arcs, grids, spirals and fans ranging from deep gray asparagus to chartreuse yellow. Couldn't get a decent photo through the downpour. You'll have to trust me on this.

And when it wasn't raining, it was overcast with a breeze. Hilda told me that this is what is normal for July. Aha! If that's the case, I now understand why B&B owner Rosalie Hope assured me "Oh, July is delightful!" Up until now, July has been anything but. Locals have been assuring us that they've never experienced such heat. Fernando fainted the other day in the hardware store, and Javier, our painter, said he's had to watch his guys -- make them drink lots of water instead of sodas -- to keep them from dropping like flies. His main work right now is sealing roofs with impermeablizante. Impermeable treatment to keep the rains from coming into houses. Like laying asphalt on roads, it's work best done in bright hot sunshine. He's had a lot of it!

From what we see on the Yahoo homepage and hear over NPR on the internet, most of North America is sweltering, so we don't really have room to complain. But the heat has admittedly driven us a little crazy lately. Or maybe we've just been driving each other crazy! Who knows. It's nice to have a little respite. Tomorrow we greet four strapping guys from Anchorage. Here's hoping they're bringing some arctic atmosphere along with them!