Yes, I had a lovely fireworks display to go to.

We had the most perfect Arizona storm last night. I kind of wish it had waited until after I’d gotten to pool it up to be all clanging and wet, but I did get wet regardless.

First, it got kind of cloudy. However, as I tool my pool aspirations outside, Mum and I happened to notice that the clouds had clouds beneath them.  Roiling, nasty violet clouds under a bronzy sky.  It wasn’t just “Oh, the clouds are moving”, you could see them creeping around each in fingery swaths. So, pool was called off and we shoved all of the deck chairs under the porch overhang.

I used to be terrified of thunderstorms.  I also used to live in a temperate climate which got battered by them every summer, so this left me a nervous wreck many an otherwise agreeable summer afternoon.  So, one day, I went out on the porch and parked myself in one of the canvas director’s chairs to watch the thunder heads creep in and the rain come skirting across the corn fields.  I figured I’d go running back inside once the lightning got bad.  I never did.  I stayed right there and by the time we were down to the spouting shimmering pink and blue cascades against the clearing evening sky, I loved storms.  

They’re so beautiful.  Loud, but beautiful.  And one of the many reasons I was so excited to move to Arizona.

Now, as I mentioned, our house has flooding issues- we may be right next to the wash, but at least we aren’t IN the wash.  The wash still claimed our mailbox one summer.  Anyway, there’s also a potential for wildfires, but I’ll take those instead of tornadoes.

It turns out, where we live, we don’t have storms blow in from the horizon like they used to back East.  They come slinking in from the mountains all around, converging to blot out the last well of the sky where it appears directly above our pool, which may well be shining away as the sky on all sides growls and turns strange colors.  

The lightning here is amazing.  Great, big jewel-colored forks of it from all directions while peels of thunder course against each other in the ethers.

The temperature dropped twenty degrees in as many minutes, although I swear I felt the heat simply STOP at one point, even before the wind shook the branches of the palo verde trees, luminous green against deep dusk storm clouds.  And all the birds suddenly stopped siging.

It began to rain.  A delicious little that had fractals wandering across the pool, and which seemed to be stopping.  But, the wind took a deep breath and the thunder clanging and it began to pour.  Everything turned dancing wet, the pool tossing like a sea and the gutters giving up a great cascade of rapid water laced with sparkling dust.

I had to run inside and check the floody box by my window.  The wind wasn’t blowing in the right direction to make it overflow, so I ran back to the porch as fast as I could, and sat there until it grew too dark to enjoy the show, and my feet were cold.

But, I still got to listen to it.  The creeking ripples and the drums somewhere over the city.

Then Jake fell off the windowsill and into the tub, chasing a raindrop down the glass.  So cute.