Smoky...

Driving west to my house, I could look at the sun, it was so smoky. There are late season fires in California, Oregon and Idaho so the prevailing wind currents have brought in a big, brown haze that settled in the valley this afternoon.

I understand we've had a series of giant flares from the sun. Looking at videos of the sun's surface is awe-inspiring....great tongues of flaring gases leaping of the surface, ceaseless rumblings over the surface, all the spectrum of oranges and yellows in enhanced modes...I love the timelessness of it. However, I am not a fan of hot weather. I feel sorry for little Mercury facing the oven-door of the sun. It must look like a charcoal briquet.