If thoughts were clouds…what would these say?
As I cleaned up the garden from leaves and branches and other debris, I looked up and snapped a photo of the very last of the clouds from that atmospheric rain event that brought us four+ inches of rain in a short period of time.
It’s warm and the sun is drying out the soggy earth.
Even while it rains, my early morning view from an east-facing window was otherworldly and spectacular.
No filters or editing, just a landscape filled with rain, the break of day, and a sun who continues to rise and shine, no matter what.
There might be an inspirational message here about the indomitable will to survive in adversity or it’s simply a sunrise. Either way, it brings joy and gratitude on the first of February.
Did you hear about the unprecedented, record breaking rainfall we had in Southern California?
The area of Pt. Loma received nearly five inches of rain, half of its normal yearly amount. The last time San Diego received this much rain was ninety-six years ago. It rained 3.23 inches on April 5, 1926. The San Diego River is at the minor flood stage at 10.86 feet and still rising.
The news showed video after video of flooded homes and streets, people standing on top of their cars, and paddleboarders on the 78 freeway where the creek ran over the road and they had to close it down.
At Casa de Enchanted Seashells, a bit north of the city, we received about 3.5 inches of rain in four days, which was enough to turn parts of the backyard into a lake, but no water damage to the structure or foundation.
I was forced to brave the worst of the storm to get fresh gauze and compression pads (bad timing!) so I was actually driving around, but only locally.
It was pretty hard to see at times, and careless drivers were speeding, but I managed to hobble in and out with my wound care items and safely return home.
My curiosity almost got the better of my (not very) good sense and I was going to stop and take pictures of the flooded freeway from a vantage point on El Camino Real, but the windshield wipers were having a hard time keeping up with the heavy rain so I thought better of it, and drove back home.
It’s starting to dry out and warmer days are forecasted, but there might be another storm next week, so I hope everyone prepares for possible extreme sky water!
Near the front door, the last bits of Hurricane Hilary left behind a heart. It was a sweet and positive message to start the day and I hurried to snap a pic before it completely dried up.
Hilary visited Southern California all day on Sunday. I took a walk this morning to survey any damage and this is what I discovered…
Even though we had nearly three inches of rain, there was no flooding and it looks like my garden was able to drink in all that water. My plants were so thirsty!
The highest wind gust was about fifty mph, not enough to fell any trees or big branches. There’s a lot of cleanup from leaves, but no deck furniture was damaged.
I didn’t lose power like many others and I’m grateful for that.
I’m left with a bathtub of water which I’ll save for the garden since there’s no rain in the forecast.
Other parts of San Diego experienced far worse. There was extensive flooding and giant eucalyptus trees falling on houses. The mountains and the desert didn’t fare so well either, and it’s going to take a lot of cleanup to restore roads and infrastructure.
In the middle of the storm, there was a big earthquake in Ojai (near Ventura), along with clusters of decent-sized aftershocks. Social media coined a new word; hurriquake–which absolutely describes our crazy weather.
It’s back to normal now, but will always be another date for the history books; the day Hurricane Hilary came to town.
🌀1858
🌀1939
🌀2023
This is my one of my dry riverbeds. (The other one is in the front garden.)
I proudly carried each and every rock and placed them with loving intention.
It’s not so dry now! Yesterday’s relentless rain had other ideas.
Tonight, this full wolf moon occurs with the sun in Capricorn opposite the moon in Cancer. The full moon is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfilling intentions set during the new moon.
The Pineapple Express, atmospheric river rain event here in California is over for now, although more wet weather is forecasted for next week.
There was talk of waves of up to sixteen feet for today, so I went down to the beach but here in Carlsbad, they were only about six to eight feet.
This morning:
A lifeguard told me there had been no rescues here, but further south in Cardiff, waves were definitely in the twelve foot range, with high surf expected again next week with the next storm.
It was super crowded; lots of people not only with cameras for pics and video, but to take advantage of the healing power of a little vitamin sea and abundant sunshine!
SoCal didn’t receive as much rain as they did up north, but we still had an impressive amount of sky water during our recent storm.
Northern California saw a historic nearly six inches of rain while we had two inches over the weekend with more forecasted this week. That’s a LOT in a short period of time, due to a phenomenon called an atmospheric river.
An atmospheric river is a narrow corridor or filament of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere. Other names for this phenomenon are tropical plume, tropical connection, moisture plume, water vapor surge, and cloud band. Wikipedia
During a brief dry period, we checked out the big windy waves. Fresh air feels so purifying and cleansing. A walk on the beach is a great way to start a new year!
Sand, sun, clouds, waves, even some blue sky.
And just like that, it began to rain again.
Check out this video…it was super windy, too!
We had rain, hardly enough to do anything but wet the street and sidewalk. After, the sky was painted with spectacular clouds and bonus moon sightings!
At the lagoon.
After the lagoon, walking up the hill, homeward bound.
#WordlessWednesday
This is what it looked like before a brief thunderstorm delighted all of us in SoCal.
It sounded as if someone was throwing around trash cans on the side of the house so I went out to look, and realized it was thunder! That’s an example of how novel an experience a thunder and lightening storm is for us.
We haven’t had rain in such a long time and it smells fresh right now, exactly the definition of the word petrichor.
Petrichor is the term coined in 1964 by Australian scientists to describe the unique, earthy smell associated with rain. It’s said to be caused by the water from rain, along with certain compounds like ozone, geosmin, and plant oils.
(https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/students/highschool/chemistryclubs/infographics/petrichor-the-smell-of-rain.pdf)
It looks like a bit more rain might visit us in the next few days. We’re excited to fill up our rain barrels and receive the bounty of Mother Nature.
Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud 