You could tell something was up with the weather today when the morning dawned bright and blue, but with a breeze. Very unusual for around here this time of year. The day was hot, and the clouds took their time developing, but soon the mountains to the east and west of us were blue and covered in a variety of cloud cover – some dark and threatening, some wide and flat like a huge pizza crust suspended above.

The afternoon became still and hot as the clouds continued to gather and the humidity increased. Around 5, the sky darkened and the wind chimes outside signalled the arrival of the weather. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees, thunder pealed, and the wind began to made whipping sounds through the mesquite and palm trees. A few fat drops, then nothing. A few minutes later, more fat drops followed by some smaller drops, then, suddenly, some straight-line winds around 50 mph blew through, accompanied by sheets of rain that seemed to come from out of nowhere. Standing under the tiki bar with a glass of Pinot Grigio, it truly was a wonder to behold – you could almost hear the trees and bushes sing a Hallelujah chorus to the Almighty for the wondrous wet gift they received.

The storm continued to gather above us but slowly passed to our south and east, turning the sky a Crayola shade of midight blue, occasionally punctuated by orange streaks of lightning. The humidity returned like a wet sponge, and the sky above us slowly gathered itself into a soft blanket of battleship gray. The rain stopped for a half-hour, but the wind chimes stirred uneasily, softly tinkling as a new breeze began to gather, this time from the east. And then, softly and slowly, a soaking rain began to fall, filling the air with the musky scent of Texas sage. As darkness closed in, everything became cloaked in a blanket of wet – soft, soaking, and dripping.

I sat under the patio roof and watched the puddles in the swimming pool dancing with every new gift from the sky and reveled in the reflection of the backyard lights on wet concrete. What a nice change and a perfect end to a mid-summer Arizona day.