Sunset & Rain

Tuesday

Last week confirmed my worse suspicions: Summer is not going to go quietly. Instead it’s going to make us all uncomfortable with triple-digit temperatures, high levels of humidity and more, before giving way to autumn. I suppose we brought it on ourselves by thinking — saying — that it wasn’t so bad this year, that it had been mild compared to others. I just hope it doesn’t really punish us all by hanging around until October and beyond. Anyway, because of this icky-stickiness I’ve been taking my daily constitutional later than usual. And although most days my heat avoidance efforts have been futile, I have enjoyed one thing: The sunsets. Last week, especially, they were so great I had to take pictures of them. Above is Tuesday, across the lake at Fairmount Park. I was entranced by the way that single fluffy cloud bank was hanging on to the day’s waning sunlight, appearing as if lit from within. Fisherman dotted the banks and sailboats floated lazily. Really beautiful.

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Wednesday

The next day was even more striking, with the horizon topped by a broad band of gold that reflected blazingly on the lake’s rippling surface. The air was cooled by a breeze at the water’s edge as fisherman cast their lines unhurried by the coming dark.

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Then Thursday: A freakishly intense rainstorm in the early afternoon took us all by surprise! In fact, it was so sudden, and so wild, that it was scary … Winds seemed to be blowing several directions at once, rain was slashing horizontally and the trees all around looked as though they were having trouble staying rooted. Click play to see the Rancho’s backyard being whipped by the storm and take special note of my large industrial fan in the background, those blades are spinning for their lives.

The storm lasted about 40 minutes but in that time it dumped about 6-inches of water on us. It also brought mud floes down from God-knows-where, broke off huge tree branches and flooded both homes and businesses. This is a video of the lake at Fairmount Park overflowing its bank near the American Legion hall. The park was a complete mess and roads were closed because of the danger from mud and tree debris; not many fisherman out, and very few walkers …

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Thursday

The sunset, however, was an amazing spectacle that almost made me forget the afternoon’s earlier pandemonium.

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Friday

The week ended with more rain, more heat, more humidity. This was a much gentler rain, however, one that didn’t faze me or the park’s ducks; fisherman, though, stayed home. The sky was aflame as the sun bowed out for the week; a promise of more fire in the days ahead.

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Today, Saturday, was so horrendously overheated that I was sapped by day’s end, no energy for walking or sunsets. I hate that the sun got the better of me. Still, I know the days are getting shorter, the sunsets earlier, and autumn’s waiting in the wings.