Water World

All winter and all spring, the sun blazed down from cloudless blue skies.  No rain, compounding a three-year drought.  The little ponds around our condo dipped lower and lower, exposing red mud banks that hardened in the sun.  Some of the ponds disappeared entirely, forcing the gators and snapping turtles to shuffle off in search of new homes.

Every day we had brilliant sunshine and low humidity.  Everything green was slowly turning brown, and the sunsets on the beach, bereft of clouds to reflect the colors, were frankly boring, but can you really complain about day after day of blue skies?  No.  No, you can't, at least not on your blog, unless you want people to hate you.

It's raining now.

Ten days ago, my husband came home from DC, where he'd spent ten days enduring constant cold rain.  That afternoon, after he landed at our little city on the Gulf, the skies surprised us with billowy thunderhead clouds, which built and darkened and poured down rain.

We were delighted.  Rain!  Finally!  It was actually quite exciting to see some weather, to feel the power of a tropical thunderstorm.

Since then, it's rained every day.  At first we just had day after day of sunny mornings followed by an afternoon or evening thunderstorm.  "It's summer," we said to each other.  "This is classic tropical weather."  But now we have had several days of rain all day, on top of a week of daily downpours.  The ponds are full, and the gators and turtles are invisible, probably lurking delightedly in the bottom of their cool, fresh new watery homes.  The ground is sprouting mushrooms, delicious-looking ones with creamy heads as big as my fist.  (Even if they are, as I suspect, an edible variety, I'm not touching them.  God only knows what kind of chemicals the landscapers are spraying on the grass here.  I've seen the "stay off" flags, I'm not eating ANYTHING that touches the ground.)

Last night, the rain came with unseasonably cool air, and we slept with our windows open.  Perhaps it would be more accurate to say we kept the windows open all night; I am left feeling that I didn't do much actual sleeping.  Our bedroom looks onto an "environmental area" (translation: scrubby swamp and water-catchment area, assuming it rains) which is currently full of water.  And frogs.  Lord have mercy, the frogs.  When we went to bed, a rather melodious species was on the stage, thousands of them singing "guuurl" in low, harmonious tones.  But at some point in the night, the guuurl chorus ceded to the barkers, and then the quackers, and then they all went quiet for a while, until dawn, when all manner of frog and bird and who-knows-what kicked up a ruckus.

These are the perils of paradise, my friends. 

Comments

[Jenn]

Just thought I'd let you know it SNOWED here yesterday. We had a good 5 cm and it was barely above freezing. I am not a fan of grey skies, and we also tend toward the drought-like conditions. But girl, it SNOWED!!!

[Lori]

Glad to see you writing again, I was afraid you broke a hand or something ; )

[Jamie]

Hey, I've been thinking about you all the time because I've been doing T-Tapp. And do you know what? It works!

[Ninotchka]

I've gotten a lot of complaints from Florida transplants about this nonstop rain you speak of. All I can say is I'm sorry! But I can't control the weather! lol It is odd, though.