We had a wonderful rainstorm here today. The Old Pueblo really needed it, too. All of our outdoor plants are doing the happy dance now in joyful jubilation. For a minute I thought I heard tiny little voices singing “Raindrops keep falling on my head.” Okay, maybe it was just my imagination.
Just when it started to pour sideways, as it sometimes does during our summer tempests, I looked out my office window and saw the peephole created by something or another. Isn’t it odd that there would be this opening? I thought it was kind of cool to see the reflection of my desk lamp in the image, too.
Happy Independence Day to all of you beautiful people!
Independence Day, the commemoration of America’s independence of the British Crown on July 4, 1776, has somehow gravitated to wishing others a Happy 4th of July. What’s up with that? I don’t understand. That’s like saying Happy 31st of May instead of Happy Memorial Day. Our forefathers fought hard and a lot of lives were lost so that we could be a free country. FREE = INDEPENDENCE. So I say to you … Happy Independence Day and may God continue to bless us all.
One of my fellow bloggers wrote a great post for today and I’d like to share it with you: WE THE PEOPLE.
The photos are of today … first one of our flag and subsequent ones as the summer storm hit and flooded our back yard. Yee Haw! Lots of lightning, thunder and rain … glorious rain! I was so excited to see our parched desert get a gigantic drink of water. Namaste’
Today was the day! The first time it rained here in I don’t know how long. Seems like forever. I watched the clouds form this morning as I set out to visit my Mom. By the time we had lunch, visited for a while and I was about to leave, I thought I saw lightning. Sure did! The clouds had come in full force, the wind was blowing, the thunder was rolling and I could smell the rain the minute I walked outside. Am I excited???? Yes! I love the summer rains here in the desert. So my pictures for the day are (1) our patio just as the rain started in and (2) the wall of water forming to the west from our house. I hate those power lines in a picture but they keep the lights on and the internet connected 🙂
(Thanks, Kathryn, for sending the rain all the way over from England). LOL. I didn’t have to do that rain dance after all. Happy dance instead. Namaste’
Today’s photos came from a bus stop that I passed and had never really noticed before. It was so interesting once I got closer and really looked at it. It tells the story of our summer monsoon season, which normally begins in early July. We get afternoon thunderstorms that sometimes last well into the evening. Lots of crazy lightning and thunder and torrential rains at times. By the time the season rolls around, we’re all so excited because June is normally 100 degrees or above every day and we’re praying for rain. (Note to Self: Go somewhere cool this summer).
Click images to enlarge. Namaste’
The blue mosaic tiles show the water flow:
The close-up here is of the “windows” showing the old adobe homes backed up against the mountains:
This one depicts the lightning strikes, the rain, and the stars, including a falling star on the right:
When I mentioned yesterday that we were going to heat up, I wasn’t kidding. Holy Wow! Revised forecast … still the 90’s but even higher by next weekend. Ugh! We’re way behind our usual amount of rain for this time of year. Is anyone else experiencing warmer than normal right now?
Seven-Day Forecast
Today’s photo is of a Palo Verde tree blooming like crazy. All of them bloom these tiny yellow flowers through the month of April and since April is normally a windy month for us, soon there will be bright yellow “snow” all over the ground. Sending light and love to all of those places that are experiencing storms and tornadoes right now. Be safe. Namaste’
OK, most of the time I’m bragging about how nice the weather is here in southern Arizona in the winter. A lot of us Arizonans do that; we’re probably over the top about it. You can’t help but overhear folks around here on the phone with their friends and relatives in colder climates. Everybody over the age of 10 has a cell phone these days so you get to know what they’re talking about if you’re within a few feet of them. But I digress.
Back to those bragging rights. I heard someone in the grocery store the other day say “It’s 70 here today and not a cloud in the sky.” Don’t know who they were talking to (obviously) but whoever it was probably was thinking, “So what!” I think they might be getting sick of us bragging about our weather. Maybe we’d better cool it and just send pictures of our 7-day forecast with nothing but suns for the whole week. I wonder if the Floridians are braggers, too.
Whenever I’m talking to someone in other locales, I somehow always manage to slip in, “You probably don’t want to know how nice it is here today, do you?” OK, enough! I’m trying to make my fingers stop typing about this 🙂
Today is a little different with a storm pushing down on us from the Northwest. We’ll be happy to take some of those clouds and rain. You guys have probably had enough up there.
I put a little different spin on today’s photo, using a cartoon effect. Namaste.
So much contrast in the Sonoran desert, especially around my house. This morning’s rain left some drops on a palm tree, which happens to be right in front of a columnar cactus, dead from a freeze we had last February. When they die, they dry up, curl up and turn brown.
It’s sad to see plants that don’t make it but we can’t go out and cover up the whole desert when the freeze comes. This year we may see even more wild and wacky weather around the world. Stay tuned.
Because of the lack of rain and humidity here in the winter months, it makes for a really vivid blue sky. Today is no exception … cloudless, brilliant blue. Sitting at a stoplight with the sunroof open, I noticed just how beautiful it really is. Funny what we take for granted about the place we live. Oh, I should probably mention it was 74 degrees. Lovely! It’s a no-brainer why lots of people visit here in the winter months.
I love many things about Arizona. High on my list is the saguaro cactus … the sentinel of the desert. Each arm takes between 40 and 50 years to sprout from the base, so when you see these giant saguaros, it makes you realize just how long they’ve been here, providing a home for the woodpeckers and other birds indigenous to southern Arizona.
The saguaro in our back yard has 10 arms (approx. 400-500 years old) and I have dubbed it “Woody’s Hotel.” It houses several woodpecker nests every spring and when the babies hatch, there’s a lot of squeaking coming from those holes. It’s pretty cool. So far all of them have flown away successfully. I’m grateful for that.
It just couldn’t get any wetter around here. But who lives in the desert and doesn’t do the happy dance when it rains? We knew this storm was coming in from the west and we’re all grateful, but the funny thing is that Tucsonans don’t really know how to drive in the rain.
I went to the dentist this morning and some guy was tail-gating me. It was on a busy road with two lanes going each way. Do you think he could have moved over? No … and I was actually going a little over the speed limit. Then there’s the drivers who like to spray oncoming cars by speeding it up through the road puddles. Hmmm . . . maybe they didn’t get enough attention as kids???
It’s OK, southern Arizona likes the whole puddle phenomenon …
Eyes to See 