There is a wonderful rain coming across the desert tonight. I don’t know how much moisture has actually fallen on our parched ground, but it smells heavenly. I can hardly wait until daylight to see the change that little bit of moisture will have made in the plants. My transplanted easterner daughter In law hustled to close the window. I wanted to leave it open. Rain is too much of a blessing here to shut it out!
When I first came to NM I remember seeing Navajo walking calmly through the falling rain as though it were a sunny spring day. I marveled at their cavalier attitude toward rain. Then after I’d lived here a while, my attitude changed, too. I learned to walk through rain and revel in it. It is only water, it will dry, even if you get soaked through. My body seemed to soak up the moisture like the dry ground.
I missed it tonight because the rain blew up suddenly after dark, but I always enjoy watching the storm clouds roll across the distant land. The storm clouds boil up over the mountain and then you can watch the individual columns of rain marching toward you. Only a few times do I remember it being entirely overcast like it gets in Ohio. Usually if you turn in a slow circle you can see blue skies and sunshine not too far off.
And in the evening, the rays of setting sun stream across the land underneath the dark clouds and in places through the falling rain. The entire landscape becomes scorched with gold. The bushes and grass are thrown into high relief and people become long shadow giants walking through the sagebrush.
And over it all, pervading the senses. is the fragrance of desert rain. It is different from any fragrance any where--heady, resinous and invigorating. You have to stand in our doorway to appreciate it!
Ooh.
When I first came to NM I remember seeing Navajo walking calmly through the falling rain as though it were a sunny spring day. I marveled at their cavalier attitude toward rain. Then after I’d lived here a while, my attitude changed, too. I learned to walk through rain and revel in it. It is only water, it will dry, even if you get soaked through. My body seemed to soak up the moisture like the dry ground.
I missed it tonight because the rain blew up suddenly after dark, but I always enjoy watching the storm clouds roll across the distant land. The storm clouds boil up over the mountain and then you can watch the individual columns of rain marching toward you. Only a few times do I remember it being entirely overcast like it gets in Ohio. Usually if you turn in a slow circle you can see blue skies and sunshine not too far off.
And in the evening, the rays of setting sun stream across the land underneath the dark clouds and in places through the falling rain. The entire landscape becomes scorched with gold. The bushes and grass are thrown into high relief and people become long shadow giants walking through the sagebrush.
And over it all, pervading the senses. is the fragrance of desert rain. It is different from any fragrance any where--heady, resinous and invigorating. You have to stand in our doorway to appreciate it!
Ooh.
Posts
I always enjoyed walking in rain.
ReplyDeleteWhen people would say, "You'll get sick," I would enjoy responding with a number of questions.
"I will?"
"Will I get sick if I go swimming?"
"Will I get sick if I take a shower?"
"Or, is it just the water that comes straight down out of Heaven from God that will make me sick?"
They'd usually look at me like I was crazy and continue on in their delusions that getting wetted by rain would make a person sick.
Who knows? Maybe that's why I'm so healthy.