It's raining in Germany

[lebkuchen]

and churchbells are ringing, at 7:52 a.m.

Thank Christ. After two weeks of 100 degree weather, this is truly welcomed relief.

There isn't an air cooler to be bought in the country, agriculture has turned to sprinkler irrigation to ensure a harvest, all lawns are toasty brown, parents are sunscreening their kids, and the overall pace is verrrry slow.

Cool temps are coming through the windows for a change, not the usual desert hot breeze.

[sfecap]

1. Where are you in Germany?

I'm leaving for Cologne in a few hours...

[lebkuchen]

4. Bavaria

Your timing is very good. We'll have cooler temps all this week. The leaves are turning faster than usual, thanks to lack of water. But it hasn't seemed to hurt the sunflower fields.

[sfecap]

16. Glad to hear it's cooling down...

The A/C in our hotel there isn't very good. :-)

I have to stop in Dubai first...it's about 120F there...

[lebkuchen]

19. Dubai will have properly functioning ACs

Where are you ultimately headed? Vacation?

[sfecap]

23. Cologne, then New York...

It's work...I'm in Bombay now and this afternoon I fly Dubai to Cologne then spend 24 hrs in Cologne, then home...

[lebkuchen]

30. Well, don't miss the cathedral!

Gute reise (have a good trip), and indulge in beer or wine before leaving Germany, outdoors. The cafes are doing a fantastic business since nobody wants to be inside in this heat. But, at temps in the 70s, that is perfect. Great timing, like I said.

http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/GMXX0018.html

Try to find a good Italian ice shop also, or Movenpick. I think the European ice cream is much better than in the US, though I can't speak for NY.

I'm off to drink something I haven't indulged in for a couple of weeks now....a hot cup of coffee!

[sfecap]

33. Tschuss!

n/t

[ErasureAcer]

35. I loved Cologne...

awesome city.

[Clete]

2. Sounds delightful.

I love rain as long as there isn't too much of it. It makes everything clean and fresh again.

[lebkuchen]

10. Geraniums can tolerate a lot of heat

but mine are bleached near white due to the scorching temps. After the rain, and some fertilizer, they will be blooming once again, and I can finally enjoy a glass of wine on the balcony. My stone building, facing south, was a heat magnet for much of the summer.

Do you think Cheney is in his underground bunker, playing with his new war toys, and screwing with Germany in particular?

[OldEurope]

3. I´m in Munich, and there is not any rain at all..

:-(

[lebkuchen]

5. Prepare yourself!

http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/GMXX0087.html

[Cha]

6. I'm happy it rained for all of you! It's a beautiful night here in

upper state New York. I just got back from a "Mars" party! We saw the fiery orange Planet and that big ass Moon right next to it!

There was a captivating campfire and a potluck from the garden and shootin' stars!

All in all a good birthday! :-)

[BurtWorm]

7. Hey, zidzi! Check out this book

(ps: happy birthday!)

[Cha]

12. Thank you, Burt!

I take it you've seen Mars since it's been so close to Earth lately?

August 27th is going to be the best night to view it from our Earthly spot! We can start seeing it at around dusk. :-)

[BurtWorm]

14. It's been raining almost every night in the last two weeks

whereever I've been--Maine and Columbia County, NY. And now I'm in Manhattan, where the sky is overcast. So I have not seen Mars, alas, and I'm too much of a sky-dolt to have even known to look for it--though I did know it was in the 'hood. I bought the Hartmann book on a whim, and it's wonderful. Extremely well written, and beautifully illustrated. Not too much about the moons, though.

[lebkuchen]

8. I saw the moon the other day, low and orange

but didn't see Mars, unfortunately.

Now there's a birthday worth remembering!

[Cha]

13. Really! And it was all kind of extremporaneously done!

Check Mars out around the 27th of August...suppose to be the best!

And we can see it early in the sky!

[shanti]

21. is that what that super bright "star"

is? i was wondering...i can see it very well here and it's 11:30 pm pst.

[Pallas180]

29. Mar supposed to be low and to the left of the Moon.

rain every day for about 10 days in Florida.
Maybe one sunny day...VERY UNUSUAL here. it usually
just rains for a 1/2 hour a day...and today a tropical
storm..last week tornadoes..and today another south of
here...

so when it gets overcast now, you run out to look if
any of the clouds look black and if they look like they m
might come down to earth.

stressful, while usually it's lovely , even if in the summer
its a hot muggy 92 every day normally.

[sandnsea]

9. Lucky you!!! We've had 2 hours in 2 months

And for the Oregon Coast that is bizarre, we are scorched here, but at least not 100 degrees. Yikes!

Fling open the windows and enjoy the cool breeze!

[lebkuchen]

11. CNN International said that in 100 yrs there won't be a North Pole

They were so cavalier about it, too. No mention of what would become of Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Hamburg, etc, nor what would become of Santa Claus.

[DemBones DemBones]

17. I'm glad to hear you are getting some rain at last. Are other parts

of Europe getting some relief, too? Drought frightens me and I'm thankful that we've had more normal rainfall the last couple of years, though it often rains when I want to go in the pool.

I was in Italy during "Europe's coldest winter in 50 years" (1995-96?) and can't say I'm sorry to miss the "hottest summer in 50 years." I nearly froze that year, thanks to the "Siberian express" cold front.

[lebkuchen]

22. Paris will get some relief

http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/FRXX0076.html

though anything in the high eighties this time of year is unusual. Typically, the last two weeks in June are the hottest (my experience), and then it's low eighties after that. The local swimming pool had no parking spaces yesterday. Little kids are dropping their drawers in town fountains, which make for cute photo ops. :)

[sandnsea]

34. Santa Claus won't have a home???

Oh now that would be a crisis. Since Americans don't want to listen to science, maybe a "Save the North Pole" with Santa and Mrs. Santa in their BVD's would get some attention. I honestly believe it will take something that silly to get the American people motivated.

[inthecorneroverhere]

15. rain? what's that?

Danken Sie Gott, den es schließlich regnet!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was really getting worried about dieses heisses Wetter in Europa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

edit: I am afraid that humor doesn't always work very well in written form

[lebkuchen]

28. You're bilingual

All the better to say, "Water....I need water...." in any language. :)

[Paschall]

18. Lucky you, lebkuchen

It's a bit cloudy this am in Paris, but no rain forecast. Temps are supposed to climb back up into the 90s next week. But yesterday the temperature in my apartment dropped below 90 for the first time in almost two weeks.

I can understand the church bells. We don't have any accurate figure of how many have died in France from this heat wave, but special portable morgues have been set up in some communities (we haven't seen these in use since the Concorde crashed a couple years ago). Special authorizations have been granted to allow burials on tomorrow's Feast of the Assumption holiday as well as Saturday to make room for the dead. Estimates are well over 100 deaths in the Greater Paris region. The government launched the "White Plan" yesterday, which is an emergency plan laid out for natural, WMD, or nuclear plant disaster. It allows authorities to requisition hospital beds (the patient overflow is being directed to military hospitals) and to commandeer hospital employees, who are being called back from summer holiday to help deal with the crisis.

Meanwhile, the wine harvest has already begun--a month early--in some regions, breaking the early harvest record which has stood since the late 1800s. Wine growers are scrambling to find available workers. That's perhaps the only good news--if farmers can get their crops harvested and to market quickly, the quality seems high, and this year's wines promise to be good.

(I'm very thankful my partner and I managed to convince his 80-year-old parents to stay out of Paris this month, and rest in the shade of the oak woods at their country house!)

[inthecorneroverhere]

24. please rain in France, too

I have been thinking and hoping for rain for Europe these past two weeks.

Liquid sunshine pour nous amis au France!

[OldEurope]

26. é per gli amici italiani! Amen...

:silly: es ist so schrecklich heiss hier drin

[lebkuchen]

25. You should be in the 80's for the weekend

http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/FRXX0076.html

...though I'm despising high 80's these days....better than 104, however, which we got a couple of days ago. I may as well be in Death Valley. Paris literally is, considering all the casualities.

The older people in Europe typically get around by bike, bus or foot. It's not possible in this heat. The best place for them to be is their keller, if they have one. If those aren't liveable, I'll bet lots of Europeans will be involved in remodeling jobs in time for next June.

[Paschall]

31. I forget which French town it is

But yesterday bus drivers there went on strike demanding air conditioning and bermuda shorts.

Some towns have had to stock thousands of liters of spring water for municipal employees (particularly road workers who always have a heavy work load during the summer vacation period). Apparently, fearing this heat wave may be repeated with global warming, a few of these communities are considering making this a yearly budget item.

And I won't even mention the forest fires. The only rain we seem to be able to count on in the week ahead is predicted for the south (the Massif Central), but that will mean--first and foremost--lots of thunderstorms and more lightning. And more fires.

But then I think of Portugal, where the fires are still totally out of control.

[shanti]

20. lol

sorry, i don't mean to laugh, but now people know how sacramento feels :wow:

[lebkuchen]

27. What is the cfs for the American River these days?

I remember hiking in the mountains around the Stanislaus area about four years ago....the side streams were overflowing, the New Melones Dam had never been so high. Atypical rainfall, yes!

[Jim Warren]

32. 'tell me all that you know'

Good to hear about the rain.......and the sunflowers too.
Been hot here lately also, they say it might be cooling off a bit soon.