What is happening with our weather? A few weeks ago we had some glorious warmth that made the bulbs begin to sprout and put a smile on the face and a spring in the step. Then suddenly, literally overnight, the temperature dropped about 30 degrees and it became cold again.
This morning, after a restless night spent listening to a loud coyote party in my backyard, I awoke to…a dusting of snow! What? Where did spring go? Big sigh.
Sorry for the dull meteorological post, but I just needed to vent.
Thanks to morguefile.com and photographer George Bosela for this fitting photo.
Most people don’t associate Arizona with snow, but here in Arizona’s mountains, we have “real winters.” Yesterday we got our promised snow (about 6 inches with a chance for more today), and here it is!
(I took these photos this morning in our yard)
…a 60% chance this weekend. Hooray!
Last night our rain finally turned to snow and we awoke to about half an inch of dry, grainy snow. The children were ecstatic and my 5 year-old son wanted to immediately go out and build snow tunnels. Well, half an inch is not quite enough snow for that, unless you are an ant…but the kids did have fun.
I was relieved to see it turn to snow since this is what the playroom looked like yesterday:
Hooray! I was even able to take some drops rippling water “art shots.” The photo below represents the infinite connectedness of all beings and the earth as symbolized in the ripples of a drop of water from my playroom ceiling. I call it- Life:
Life
Oh well, if you can’t laugh, you have to cry, right? I have had this leak before, and we have had many roofers and contractors over to diagnose and attempt to fix it without success. It only happens about once or twice a year when the rain hits the house at a certain angle. I think this time we finally figured it out though, since even the upstairs bedroom carpet was soaked near one of the bedroom windows. That window must be the culprit. It looks like we are in for a new window.
Today it is sunny and I am cleaning up this mess. While the kids and I work on the playroom, we’ll take the opportunity (I hope) to weed out some toys to donate.
Thank you all for your concerned comments regarding my leak. I just hope that we actually can fix it this time, otherwise perhaps we’ll just have to buy an ark.
It is hot here. These are the weeks of the year where I feel like I am in reverse hibernation. It is too hot to garden, or ride bikes, or de-clutter the house. I just want to lie around. But this year has been hotter than usual. Rumor has it that it was 100 degrees in the parking lot of the grocery store a few days ago, and we are at a 7,000′ elevation!
Most people in my town have no air conditioning of any sort in their homes, including me. At 7,000′ it just doesn’t usually get all that hot, and it cools off dramatically at night. But for two or three weeks of the year, right before the monsoon season starts, it gets hot and the humidity-level rises so as to be noticeable. Although most of you US residents reading this would laugh at my definition of noticeable humidity, bear in mind that when it is usually as dry as a bone, you can feel even the smallest change in the humidity of the air.
We all eagerly await the monsoon, the daily afternoon thunderstorms that bring lots (hopefully) of rain and cooler air. They are actually a mixed blessing. They bring much needed rain, but they also bring lots and lots of lightning. Lightning is a frightening thing around here since lightning causes fires in the tinder-dry forests that surround us. Having lived through one massive wildfire, none of us want to do that again.
Here are some photos to cool you off if you are hot too. I thought I would save them for these uncomfortable, pre-monsoon weeks. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere and are freezing through the winter right now, then don’t look!
These real, unaltered photos were taken after a record-setting, MASSIVE, lake-effect snowstorm that happened this past winter in the little town on Lake Ontario where I grew up. My father sent them to me. Warning: put on your parkas before proceeding further!
Everything Else!, about me, musings, nature
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lake effect, lake effect snow, Lake Ontario, nature, nature photos, snow, snowstorm, summer, sun, winter, winter storm
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