monsoon

It's monsoon season in The Valley of the Sun. 

Although we have had one nice H2O filled storm, 

mostly the new season 

has just brought more humidity to the equation.

rain rain

We are having some wet weather today. It's been working up to a real rain the last two days. After one of the trial runs I found this interesting pattern of water drops on a piece of mirror Jay had outside.

time for socks

It has been chilly in Arizona this past week...time to pull out the long pants, sweaters and, yes, even socks. There have been a couple mornings when frost has been spotted on the rooftop and snow on distant mountain tops. 

Lily starts out the morning with her jacket but if the sun comes out you can find her belly-up taking a sun bath.

summer storms

We've had several rainstorms go through this past week. On Tuesday night we watched out the picture window in our bedroom as the mountain/desert scape was lit up again and again by flashes of lightning. Friday morning, shortly after I took this photo the sky opened up and poured down sheets of wet over the parched desert soil. Again yesterday afternoon the winds howled and the clouds let loose buckets of cool wet moisture. We have gone back and forth between opening up the windows and doors to draw in the Michigany-like air and then quickly closing everything back up and turning on the air conditioner when the sun breaks through and turns all that cool wetness into hot sticky steam.

puddles in the desert

Jay gets photo credit for this last shot

Certainly not as poetic as "Streams in the desert" but after two solid days of rain, mud and puddles were left behind. Messy, but all that wet provided some untypical Arizona photo opportunities.

double blessing

During dance practice in our worship room on Monday afternoon a double rainbow appeared framing the mountain. The colors were vivid and seemed to splash off the ground where they touched the horizon. Three times the promise reminders appeared, disappeared and reappeared.

Photo credit for first 2 photos: Jay

"cooler start to the week...

...high of 99 today" said the radio announcer. Considering we have had temps well over 100 for quite a stretch I guess 99 degrees could be considered "cooler".

weather

Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!
Author: unknown

This morning when I came in from the chickens I asked Jay if he knew where the mountain was....the clouds almost completely hid it from view. As the morning progressed we had a series of unusual views out the back door.

The mountain completely disappeared as the clouds dropped a slushy. hail-type precipitation.

It turned our yard white along with the top of the mountain.

Then the sun came and melted what had collected on the roof.

Leaving us with blue skies and a beautiful white tipped mountain.

a chilly start

January 1, 2011 was a chilly start, both outside and in. We woke Saturday morning to find the freezing temperatures outside were too much for the heat pump to the main rooms of our house. We were concerned until we heard from several other friends who were experiencing similar problems. Apparently the heating/cooling units frequently used in Arizona don't weather the cold well. Kind of silly, it seems, to have a heater that stops working when the temperatures get too cold.

dancing in the clouds

picture this:
Thanksgiving morning... still wearing my pj's, talking on the phone, climbing on the roof in order to shoot the clouds on the mountain that look a lot like an avalanche.

dance of the seasons

Yesterday every time I went outside dressed in my up until now Arizona uniform (shorts and a sleeveless top) I said to myself....this is a bit chilly....I wish I had sleeves on.

(3:00 in the shade)

Today, newly clad in a shirt with sleeves, I ventured out and thought...my, I wish I had my jeans on.

November 5th and I think I can feel fall in the air....