I think I am one of a very few people in Southern California that actually likes rainy days.
Understand that I don't like driving in it, or walking outside without a jacket on and getting wet, as I hate the way wet clothing feels on my skin, but I do like the reminder to slow down and enjoy the sounds, sights, and smells of nature handling it's own maintenance.
On some level, I like to think that rain cleanses the grimy sidewalks of my urban landscape, while nourishing the few trees, small bushes, struggling flowers, and little patches of grass that manage to survive in our desert climate. Although we've conquered the worst of our smog issues, sometimes you can still see a light beige film settling over the horizon from Downtown office towers towards the mountains and the beach. The rain and wind wash that away, and lead to some of the most beautiful blue skies, with the added bonus of the smell of crisp, clean air when you do decide to step outside.
Part of the reason I like Spring is the implied promise of seasonal renewal; the rain and wind cleaning the earth and the air, nurturing new life in flower and trees, signaling planting time in rural communities, and giving up bits of color and beauty we don't regularly see, if only for a season or two.
This Spring in particular, we here in our thirsty, drought stricken corner of the Southwest, hope for a nurturing rain that will allow us to continue living in our little desert oasis, proving vital water for our crops and homes. We listen to our weather forecasters, watch the sky, and wish for a few drops of rain for our vision of paradise.
I started this post at the conclusion of one set of storms, and as I write this, I wait for another, smaller storm to move through in a few days. As I wait, I think about a series of commercials I saw over the weekend, reminding us that nature doesn't need us, but we certainly need it. How true. Life existed and completely sustained itself on Earth long before we came along, and will continue to do so long after we are gone. It will adapt, correct itself, plus whatever we have managed to damage, and carry on, much as it has for eons. Mother Earth will survive the corrections, as it were. Will we?
Those are thoughts for another night. Right now, I will watch the sky, waiting for the cleansing, life giving rain.
Understand that I don't like driving in it, or walking outside without a jacket on and getting wet, as I hate the way wet clothing feels on my skin, but I do like the reminder to slow down and enjoy the sounds, sights, and smells of nature handling it's own maintenance.
On some level, I like to think that rain cleanses the grimy sidewalks of my urban landscape, while nourishing the few trees, small bushes, struggling flowers, and little patches of grass that manage to survive in our desert climate. Although we've conquered the worst of our smog issues, sometimes you can still see a light beige film settling over the horizon from Downtown office towers towards the mountains and the beach. The rain and wind wash that away, and lead to some of the most beautiful blue skies, with the added bonus of the smell of crisp, clean air when you do decide to step outside.
Part of the reason I like Spring is the implied promise of seasonal renewal; the rain and wind cleaning the earth and the air, nurturing new life in flower and trees, signaling planting time in rural communities, and giving up bits of color and beauty we don't regularly see, if only for a season or two.
This Spring in particular, we here in our thirsty, drought stricken corner of the Southwest, hope for a nurturing rain that will allow us to continue living in our little desert oasis, proving vital water for our crops and homes. We listen to our weather forecasters, watch the sky, and wish for a few drops of rain for our vision of paradise.
I started this post at the conclusion of one set of storms, and as I write this, I wait for another, smaller storm to move through in a few days. As I wait, I think about a series of commercials I saw over the weekend, reminding us that nature doesn't need us, but we certainly need it. How true. Life existed and completely sustained itself on Earth long before we came along, and will continue to do so long after we are gone. It will adapt, correct itself, plus whatever we have managed to damage, and carry on, much as it has for eons. Mother Earth will survive the corrections, as it were. Will we?
Those are thoughts for another night. Right now, I will watch the sky, waiting for the cleansing, life giving rain.
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