On a Scale of 1-10...

...our Air Quality Index was at 11 today! It was not just "High Health Risk", but "Very High Health Risk"...numero 11...a designation for air quality worse than the scale allows...

The cause? Smoke from the wildfires in Quebec..It meant closing up the cottage - windows, doors  - and not going outdoors at all...on a very hot day...

It was a most uncomfortable day, and I yearned for the AC I would have back home! But it also made me think that if this is bad, imagine what it has been like for firefighters and folks in the immediate vicinity of those fires...I just cannot imagine it...

I did go out really early in the morning - for a few minutes - to check out just how bad it was - with a mask ...but a mask that is not really good enough for tiny smoke particles and definitely not for gases, but, even knowing that, it made me feel better to wear it!  How ridiculous is that? 

After that, it was a hunkering down day..no sneaking out to get a breath of fresh air, as there was none. Instead, a lot of reading and television -watching... and waiting for it to be over... waiting for the overnight rain that was promised, and hoping it would clear the air.