The Portable Universe: July 2013

There are a hundred things that happen every day that remind me what a rich life I lead. I took these pics in the past 24 hours. They serve as little touchstones. I don’t have pics of the phone calls to friends and family, the lovely Thai dinner my friend cooked for me, the other friends that brought popcorn and sat on the porch and then the side street as my neighbor began her Saturday night ‘ghost mural’ show – slides of art and life projected onto the big white stucco wall across from her art studio. I promised another friend (Henry the Fourth, that’s you!), I would put up two posts this weekend. I am getting in just under the wire….

Still working on the friendship dynamics...

Puppy Palooza with Daisy and Seamus

Dark clouds on Bullard

More dramatic clouds and light

Double rainbow at dusk from my street corner

Sunday morning hiking buddies on the Dragonfly Trail

Trail Blossom

Another Trail Blossom

Dragonfly Petroglyph

At the crest near the dragonfly petroglyph

Nature's Sculpture

End of the hike

Mountain View Road at noon looking northward

Dragonfly Trail

At 2 a.m. on the first evening of July, Carmon called me. She didn’t wake me up because I was lounging in bed with the cat and the dog listening to a terrific thunderstorm. Thunder, lightning, and rain, rain, rain. She laughed and said, “Welcome to monsoon season!”

What a blessing. It has rained nearly every day since. It has transformed this parched country. I have been distracted completely by the storm clouds brewing on the horizons and pouring over the ridges. I see them building most afternoons and say to myself – Welcome to the Thunder Bowl. Most mornings are calm; the air is sweet. If you need to get anything done outside, mornings are the time. I have been hiking several days a week with friends. The San Vicente trail, the Dragonfly trail, Boston Hill.

July is the rainiest month of the year for Silver City and the surrounding area, and August is the second rainiest. The average monthly rainfall for July is 3.82 inches. As of today, we’ve gotten 7.19 inches. No one is complaining. Let it rain.

My Portland friends would laugh. This is what I left behind. My friends in Silver City joke they are moving back to Seattle – too much rain here!!

I’ve loaded up a bunch of pics for your viewing pleasure. And for those who have chided me on not writing for such a long dry spell, I promise - I will do better.