Hot . . . .

9.40a.m.

And it's already hot enough outside to not want to go out there!

The forecast is for a top temperature of 41 degrees celsius. And not cooling down a whole lot until after the weekend. And it's not even summer yet. We had mid-30s temperature yesterday and things is the garden are starting to show a little stress. The Hagleys Hybrid clematis outside the kitchen window was very distinctly droopy yesterday afternoon but revived well after a good drink.

Here is the yellow rose in the birdbath bed, showing off its sunburn from yesterday. All the white Iceberg standards along the front of the house are similarly burnt.

Last night, the outside lights on the back verandah attracted a vast swarm of Christmas beetles. They were dive-bombing the lights and the screens on the windows and bouncing off the glass doors. When I went out to feed the dogs, I could see that the frenzied activity was also with a view to perpetuating the species!!

And like every party, there are always those who take things too far! And here they are - floating in the dogs' water bowl, partying days over and cut off in the prime of their youth with no chance of having children of their own and watching those children grow up to be responsible members of the Christmas beetle society. Let this be a lesson to all you young people out there!

It's 30 minutes since I took the photo of family room thermometer and a quick check has just revealed that the outside temperature is now 31.5 degrees. So far, I've only got the overhead fans going inside and with the doors and windows all closed and the blinds all down, it's not too bad inside but no doubt, shortly, the air conditioning will be on.

My poor garden outside - how I hate these dreadful hot days! Hang in there, little plants - think cool thoughts - does that work for plants, do you think?