Sicklied o'er.

Yesterday the whole town got cloudy, and it had nothing to do with rain, except for the lack thereof. 

I've seen smoke from wildfires around here, in the southern Hudson Valley, but I'd never seen the sky turn a pale, sickly yellow like this. 

Weirder still, this was coming from Canada's wildfires, three hundred miles and more to the north. 

We're under an air quality alert, of course. Everything smells like smoke. People in a local online community were saying they could taste it. I thought it smelled nice, as woodsmoke does, but it bothered some people. One woman posted that her daughter said, "This is what the end of the world looks like." That surprised her dad, who posted "Really?" Well, kids are dramatic. The girl is too young to remember 9/11.

But it is weird. 

I'd like to make a quip about how Canada, which hates smoking so much that they're printing warnings right on the cigarettes, sure is blowing smoke in our faces, and should keep their pollution to themselves. 

Okay, I guess I just did. 

But I'm pulling for the guys who have to go out and try to fight these blazes. It's been super dry here -- "dry as popcorn farts" as one friend unartfully but vividly put it -- and there's no rain in the forecast until at least Monday. It's made the days very comfortable and the nights perfect for sleeping with a window open, but this is the cost. 

Naturally, while all this is going on I heard some idiots nearby practicing with firecrackers, because the Fourth of July is only a month away and they have to get ready. 

So, let's pray this ordeal ends soon, and if you know a good rain dance, pass it along. That sky sure looks sick, and some people with breathing trouble will also.