Last night, we were starting a Sherlock Holmes movie (the one with Robert Downey, Jr.) when, over the din of the fan, I heard a new sound: the pitter patter of .. raindrops. I could scarcely believe it! After the wave of record heat we have had, it was so welcome. I jumped up and went outside. Slowly the gentle drops began to build, hitting my arms & head. I put on my sunhat, grabbed my camera and looked up at the sky to the West. Large clouds covered most of it, and I took some nice pictures of them. Back to the movie. Then Thunder! The sky turns orange in the East. And more rain. For an hour we had lightening, thunder and rain. Sweet smelling rain. My dog smelled it too, tail wagging, he wanted to go outside. My cat went to his window to watch the scene from there. I was glad I had brought in the laundry from the clothesline.
Okay, so if you are reading this from another part of the country, you are probably giggling. But it is a big deal to get moisture in Southern California, especially in the Summer. You would think this means I will get out of watering today. But you'd be wrong. The rain barely scratched the surface of the soil. At least it smelled good and dusted cobwebs off the leaves of the bushes.
It has been way TOO HOT here ever since the Autumn Equinox. I was enjoying the Harvest Moon on September 23rd. (We won't have another full moon on the Autumn Equinox for 19 years.) The weather was cool, and the Canyon was filled with fog .. lovely, soft, white fog. My thoughts had turned to pumpkins and festivals decorated with hay bales & scarecrows. Then, out of nowhere came the Heat. Suddenly it was 100dgs, Summer again! The vegetable beds had to be covered with shade netting. The pots of spinach & lettuce that I'd started early had to be brought inside.
It was the weekend. All sorts of Autumn festivals had been planned and were taking place around the Southland. Yet, it hardly seemed like Autumn, especially at the beach, where hundreds of thousands of LA residents collected to "beat the heat" and have some fun on the Westside. The height of the Heat came on Monday though, when downtown Los Angeles hit 113dgs breaking a record for the day since record keeping began in 1877. It was so hot, in fact, that the official thermometer broke! So, it might have been even hotter than 113. No one knows for sure.
Slowly things are cooling down some. Beautiful monsoonal clouds cross the sky.. But the pitter patter of raindrops will be welcome in my Topanga garden anytime they want to come back.
