Friday's Fireworks-September 7, 2012

After feeling elevated by the truly American spirit speeches this week, where the emphasis was on people helping each other, especially folks who are sick or disabled, it is difficult to follow up with ordinary life. However, here in Mesa, Arizona we have our own fireworks this morning. As I have explained before, the sky is huge in Mesa with no buildings that I can see taller than a second story a hundred yards away and mountains surrounding us on three sides. That sky turned grey and clouded as dawn broke this morning. While I was talking on the phone with a dear friend in New York, I was sitting on my patio, which looks out toward the west. As we spoke, oceans of clouds breezed in above me. Soon the sky to the north turned to a mass of dark grey. Lightning blazed both from the south and from the north, followed by thunderclaps at least a dozen miles away.
It is now three hours later; sheets of water keep raining down on my house, from the north powerwashing my windows, pouring from my roof  onto the grateful plants below. The storm is directly above us now with huge streaks of lightning right in my back yard it feels and followed almost immediately by loud thunder.
In New York, rain is something to deal with by clothing and boots and sturdy umbrellas as we continue with our days. In Arizona rain is an event to behold, an experience to marvel, a seldom occurrence even in monsoon season where the television weather announcers are proud that Sky Harbor Airport measured 2.6 inches of rain so far this season!