It's the height of summer here in Oregon and all gardens are bursting with flowers and produce!
This state is so green, you don't really need to have a 'green thumb' to grown anything. Just stick it in the earth and it grows!
I pass this delightful little vegetable patch almost every day where the corn and zucchini are having a hay-day:



Apples and pears are starting to look good ..

       

... and after a last harvest of blueberries ..

                      

                                        James has moved on to ...

  

Blackberries!

The vineyards around Newberg are looking like they're going to have a bumper crop as well!

                                        

I finally have some flowers too, but they're not doing too well .. I think the pots are a little too small for such tall plants as sunflowers, morning glory and cosmos:

                  

                                                  


And how about this beautiful work of art? I'm pretty sure this is the nest of bald-faced hornets:



They get their name from the characteristic white markings on their faces.
They're notably larger than other species and omnivorous, and considered to be beneficial due to their predation of flies, caterpillars, and spiders.
Unfortunately, their aggressive defensive nature makes them a threat to humans who wander too close to a nest, or when a nest is constructed too close to human habitation. They vigorously defend the nest, with workers stinging repeatedly.
They're a little away from the RV, and so far we've not noticed any aggressive behavior, but we're careful and are making a little detour around them when we have to pass the tree they're in.

So, yes, this summer is a hot one for sure! It's about the fourth (fifth?!) time this season that the temperatures are soaring into the triple digits!

Multiple wildfires in California and Oregon are starting to affect the air-quality around here, and the sunlight during the day has an eerie, orange glow to it.

 
We can have breakfast outside, and if we're lucky maybe lunch as well, but at dinnertime it's still way to hot to be comfortable out there!

                                                     

                                     Early breakfast on one cool(er) morning. The sun is only just rising ..

And although our ACs are keeping us reasonably cool, our (older) fridge still cannot keep up with this heat.
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, when the temperature of our 'big' fridge rose into the 50s, we bought a small fridge at Lowes and temporarily moved everything over.
Than, while I was gone, James acquired a small AC, which he hung in front of the air-outlet of our big RV fridge, on the outside of the RV :

After closing off most of the gaps to the outside, he has managed to keep the area behind the fridge at around 65F and the fridge around 48F. (The freezer by the way is working fine!)
Still not ideal, but just cold enough to keep most things from going bad too fast, so everything was moved back to the big fridge.
Hopefully soon, we'll be nearing the end of these hot spells! Fall cannot come early enough!

James finally has his own desk at Doug's! Joel passed his exam and has officially moved out, so no more (or, a lot less) fighting for computer space:

According to Doug and Brenda he's catching on real quick, and he's a lot further along in doing 'things' by himself than any of the other assistants they've had so far.
It sure helps that he knows a lot about houses and the building there-of in general, and he's also quite knowledgeable in finances and bank policies as well.

He's trying to golf some in his spare time, but is also working on a list of things to repair and doing some general maintenance around the RV and the truck/car.
For instance, we've had a leak in the kitchen waste-water/holding tank for quite some time now, and he finally got to 'patching' the small crack he found:

        

For a lot of things the temperatures have to be just so, to be able to paint or caulk, and preferable no wind or rain of course so progress is somewhat slow, but we're getting there. One job at a time ..

To celebrate my return from Europe, Doug invited us to join them for dinner at Rosmarino. We'd been there once before with them and knew we'd be in for a treat, so he didn't have to ask us twice!
Once again we attended the '5 course-dinner', but this time it was served family style and we were seated on the patio:

                  

This place is really something else, and not in the last place because of it's owner and chef Dario who was born and raised in Piemonte (with the accent to match) and who cooks all his mother’s (Nonna Agnese) authentic recipes!



He's very informative and entertaining, describing each dish and its relevance to Italy and its preparation in exuberant fashion, along with the characteristics of the wine it is paired with.

                         

He's interspersing the descriptions with lots of stories and humor and the Italian accent to go with it!
As before, the food was out of this world, the best Italian food I have ever eaten, and most likely ever will, and the whole experience is just one of a kind!
OK, that was about it for this week. It's almost 5 pm, time for happy hour. James will probably be here soon.

I'm going to poor some wine. To say it with Dario .. Salute!