Well, despite a definite trend a/o this typing:
, a few glimpses of blue sky and flashes of sunshine have me so optimistic that our days-long spell of unbroken clouds and rain is breaking, as to hang a load of laundry to dry. Lord knows, I'm not complaining about the rain or the (eventually) cooler daytime temps but the constant cloudiness puts some of the garden's denizons, flora and fauna (everything except those damnable grasshoppers), into haitus and keeps me indoors: I simply can't stand having wet fur. Fortunately no pressing tasks, although, I have three long-fallow beds I'd like to get together by, say, October and really would like to get two winter deadfalls at least limbed out now that we finally broke down and mowed. One can stay pretty much where it lies but the other I want to relocate because it interferes with access to garden materials. As much as possible, we leave snags and deadfalls where they stand/fall because of their value to woodpeckers, who seem to like them well enough....
Earlier today, DW heard and then spied two more optimists: