Let it Rain

It has been hot here. Sweaty not wanting to move hot. Today though I have been reminded of one of the things I love about our summers. Monsoon season. This just means that it will rain a little bit most days.

Rain is different here. Don't get me wrong it is still wet and it can cause puddles, floods and lots of sticky mud. Usually we watch the clouds building up in the sky. There have been times that we literally travel with the rain when we go to Albuquerque or back to Gallup. It rains and stops, rains and stops, rains and stops and really it is the same storm that is moving in our same direction.

What I really love though are the rainbows. The sun can be shining brightly in the east and it is dark and stormy in the west or vica versa - then the drizzles and light rains refract the light causing the sky to be filled from end to end with a beautiful arching rainbow which is usually double as well. Some are so beautiful that is almost hurts to look at the shimmer and cold colors of the glistening arc.

I also love verga. I did not know this word until I moved to New Mexico. Verga is when you can see it raining in the distance. There are streaks of rain that you really can see but it never makes it to the ground. The rain literally dries before it gets to earth. It really is amazing.

I have saved the best of last - the smell. I am not sure I can describe it. It is a fresh tantalizing scent of clean dust, sagebrush, yarrow, and washed cotton. Even that does not do it justice. In the midwest rain carries the scent of grass and green and damp and is lovely in its own way. Rain here has more of the smell of life in it. The scent carries the sighs of the vegetation and animals that have become so sere that leaves, paws and atmosphere are prune -ish with lack of moisture. The scent of rain tells me that God has not forgotten the life in the desert and it is His promise of feeding creation.

In a place that gets only gets a few inches annually rain is life and I think is our sign of God's love and care. Perhaps the is the essence in the rain that I cannot quite describe - God 's love. All I know is that no candle, air freshener or soap will ever be able to duplicate it. There is no scent that is bottled that contains God's love. It is simply there for the taking and provides life. Like the rain in the desert - makes life sweeter, cleaner and life enhancing. Let God rain on you with His living water. Even the desert comes alive with God's water.

I was thinking today about all of the different ways to be hot. Right now I am sweaty hot. My clothes are sticking to me where my body and chair touch. The air is still and the temperature is about 90. Even with the fans - until the sun goes down it will just be hot.

There are other hots:

fever

on a lucky streak

oven/stove

out with a good looking guy

red, embarrassed

sauna healthy hot

dressed to kill

something that is liked A LOT

understanding

I love words. I like how in English there are so many different ways to say the same thing. Think of the word walk - you can strut, gambol, trudge, skip, slog, prance, amble, stride, step.... you get the idea. Each one gives a different picture.

Like all else in this world how can you think of the beauty of communication and not know that there is a GOD? Our creative words image our creative creator. So with that let me say - goodbye, so long, farewell, tata, see you, later, bye. Get it? :-)

Don't Look over the Fence

Coming back from Chicago Sis and I did our usual thing. I drove and she piloted. We went off of the main highways to two lane roads several times to make our route more direct. Sis does not like it when we are heading south and the highway heads sharply north before turning south once more. At that point we get off the main freeway and see America so to speak. 

On this last trip I met a woman staying behind one of our hotels with her family in their camper. She had several little dogs and we connected first with dog talk. I then discovered that she and her husband were migrant workers. They were in the area to harvest wheat. The near fields needed another day or two before harvesting so she and hubby and in laws spent time around their camp. From Kansas they would head further north continuing to stop and harvest as they went. These farms were yearly stops and work areas. She was very upbeat and friendly and accepted her life as normal. I wonder what it would be like to spend most of the year traveling in a camper as your home and going from farm to farm to work. Sometimes they would stay on the property of where they were working but not all of the farmers wanted them to do that. She stated that she preferred leaving the property and going to their own camp. 

When I say RV I do not mean one of those mammoth beasts that pull yachts and jeeps and are as big as a bus. Their RV was one of modest room pulled behind an old pickup. They depended on the seasons and crops to live. Life on the road. It sounds romantic and free. I am not sure that is true. I need to spend more time looking at all of the good things in my own life and appreciating them. My lady found happiness in simply being with her husband and making ends meet. That is the life she knew and was accepting that and making it a good one. I need to do the same in my own life. I have to stop looking over the fence so to speak and see how green my own grass is growing. 

Ahh! Summer

I love summer. (Okay I also love fall, winter and spring.)Anyway, back to summer. Books epitomize summer. I read. I actually sit and read a book from cover to cover. Don't give me too much credit. These are not deep uplifting titles. During the summer I like to read what I call grocery store genre. These include books that are cheap, paperback and are mostly fluff. Every once in a while I come across a winner that I have to make sure I tell my friends the title. For the most part though, these are just quick reads for nothing but pure enjoyment. 

Sis and I travel to visit family. Books once again take part. We are road trippers. We pack the van, load the dogs and pop in audio books. The open road and a good story are a wonderful match. We range from classics to mysteries, biographies, and romance. There was even one time that we had almost arrived at our parent's house and took the long way in order to finish the book we were listening to at the time. I know, I know, our priorities need tweaking at times. 

So put a book in your purse, pop one into the car's audio or sit in the shade and lose yourself in a story other than your own. I always feel a bit happier after a trip into a good tale. Please "book" yourself into an enjoyable story of your own choosing. I know you will be glad that you did.