Under the July 4 umbrella
A near weather disaster in New Hampshire yesterday brought us an unexpected blessing. When a line of severe thunderstorms in the Granite State knocked out power—and air-conditioning—at my son's condo, they beat a hasty retreat south to our house, where we had all the amenities associated with electricity, including the ability to cool things off in the heat and humidity. Today continued rainy, but in place of T-storms, we had to deal with a glancing blow from the first hurricane of the season, the early-arriving Arthur. By mid-afternoon, my grand-daughter Stasia and I had had enough of the indoors. We would walk under the shelter of a giant umbrella, we reckoned, and if there were, say, puddles to jump in, well, why not? It seemed like a fine plan. It was.