We’re back to I guess what you would call late summer here in the Valley of the Sun. Just a few days ago I was wondering if the pool temperature had lost its stuffing after the rain and the unusual low temperatures we had earlier in the week, but yesterday and today the daytime temps were back over the century mark, and the pool temp responded nicely – I swam in 89 degree water tonight.

I do think we’ve seen the last of our monsoon for 2013 – there were clouds building towards the northwest and over the mountains earlier in the day that looked like someone to our far north was getting rain, and as the sun was setting this huge white cumulus cloud off to our north all lit up in colors ranging from pure white to gray with a little salmon tossed in for good measure was generating some lovely lighting strikes inside it. It was beautiful to behold and I toasted it with my glass of pinot grigio as a farewell to what has been to date a fairly entertaining monsoon season.

The night was the warmest it has been for a week or so, so after dark I took a walk around the neighborhood just to check things out. Typically, these walks are reserved for the holiday season so I can check out who’s doing what with their Christmas lights, so it was weird to see houses I associate with a particular holiday light display all dark and quiet. There were a lot of crickets chirping tonight, and a couple of times I had to scoot around one hopping on the sidewalk. The moon was just over half full and it was nice to stop by a dead tree and see the moon shining through leafless branches; it reminded me of a November night back in New England.

Returning from my walk I noticed a wind starting to come up so I turned on the Rhode Island classical music station I enjoy listening to over the Internet on the outside speakers and enjoyed a lovely swim under the moon thinking what a perfect time it would be to hear Handel’s Water Music. I didn’t need a towel to dry myself off – the breeze did that all by itself – so I sat with a Sam Adams Boston Lager under the happy patio lights and listened to Mozart. I felt really at peace – the moving pool water reflecting in the landscaping lights and the breeze conducting its own natural symphony played by tinkling wind chimes and rustling palm branches. In that moment in time it just couldn’t have gotten any better – well, maybe if I had lit up an Arturo Fuente, but I just wasn’t in the mood. I couldn’t help but think that only a few months earlier I would be listening to surf music and contemplating my next round of golf or driving range session – now, my clubs still in Georgia and my elbow aching it all seems as if a dream or at least another lifetime ago.

There’s a lot of work to be done out back tomorrow – I’ve got rocks to move and irrigation lines and landscaping wiring to dig up in preparation for what I hope will be the last of the backyard work for quite some time – there’s at least one, perhaps two queen palms to plant and another date palm and some tropical grass to finish the area behind the pool off. And the tiki torches bordering the pool area all need to have their oil replenished for the fall season, so a trip to the hardware store is in order. We’re still a few weeks away before the start of “Arizona winter”, but in these late summer days I’m trying to enjoy our surroundings as much as I can. You’ve got to find your inner peace wherever and however you can find it.