Photo (added later): Griffith Park’s Mount Hollywood with the Griffith Observatory and rain-filled clouds above. Mount Lee with the Hollywood sign (just visible) is behind.
Finally. I never thought I’d see the day again. Finally and end to the seemingly perpetual sunshine. It has not been since March (unless I’m very mistaken) since there’s been any serious rain here, and more than five months since there’s been any officially measurable rain of any sort in Los Angeles (as measured by the official station down at USC).
I was beginning to despair a bit. I need rain, psychologically as well as for more mundane reasons like wanting my garden to get a good soaking. There’s something about the way my outlook on the world works that needs to have good rainfall sometime. Rainfall where I live, I mean. I’d seen some wonderful rain over the summer (almost daily afternoon thunderstorms in Aspen for a few weeks, nice rain and drizzle for a week in Cambridge), and that did help me with the waiting, but I’ve been needing rain at home.
And so here it is! There’s the wonderful sound of it on the roof, and then there’s the smells I have not smelled in so long. There’s the smell of the long bone-dryness meeting the welcome new wetness, a meeting that takes place in concrete, in wood and in dirt, with distinctive results that take me all the way back to my childhood. It’s a short-term, almost fleeting set of smells at the beginning of a long-awaited rainfall that will be gone shortly. Longer lasting will be the general smell of moisture sneaking into the house through the doors and windows that’s so refreshing. LA is so different when it rains. The sky is lower, from the clouds, which I think makes the main difference. I’ve noticed that here’s a rushing wind from time to time, and maybe I even saw a flash of lightning! This may well be an actual storm – we shall see.
You might think this is much ado about nothing, but it isn’t really. This is a big deal here.
Rain! Finally! I’m so excited by this!
-cvj
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@dimitri…
Since it’s my first year, i don’t know anyone :o).
Lovely post, Clifford! Your description of the smells of the rain was quite evocative, almost poetic, and I enjoyed it very much. I love the smell of rain when it hasn’t been around in a while. I have a skylight in my living room, and on rainy evenings you can hear the raindrops hitting the cover quite well; the sound is very pleasing. Nice way to fall asleep, listening to the rain.
Of course, there is a limit. : ) In Chicago we’ve had a lot of rain this year; we were breaking records. A few weeks ago, there was so much damage and power outages from a rainstorm that our technology center was closed for the day — a first in over 30 years! Driving home that storm night was unnerving, seeeing huge, old trees downed, their trunks in the streets, flooded side roads, near total darkness. Much cozier at home!
Michelle -it’s a pleasure. Great to hear that I helped cheer you up.
Just got in from the garden – enjoying the process of damply trimming things and getting my fingers into moist earth and gathering partially decayed leaves. Bliss.
Some more rain is starting, and so it’s time for a cup of tea, and feeling cozy with a book (and, of course, my friends on this blog for a while).
-cvj
Thanks for cheering me up, Clifford. I was just staring out the window feeling rather down about the rain… (we have it up here in Northern California, too). I guess it is something different for a change. I will drink my tea and try to feel cozy, instead.
I’m at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel actually. Do you know a certain Frederik De Roo? He is starting his PhD with us and if I remember correctly he comes from Gent.
Excuse me for the double post, but, dimitri terryn… are you phd at leuven or at ghent? I’m starting my first year at ghent, monday.
I love reading when its grey and rainy outside. It just makes me feel so good and comfy. 😀
I grew up in semi-arid Colorado, so rain has always brought me joy. At the age of 14, I experienced the rainy season in Mexico. Every summer afternoon, around 5 p.m., rain poured down. Being a Colorado kid, I joyfully ran into the rain. It wasn’t even cool–it was warm. I managed only a few seconds of standing in the warm, pouring rain before I retreated from it. At grad school in Iowa, I finally learned why people carry umbrellas. Rain can physically hurt you when it falls with enough force. Rains in western Colorado aren’t like that, usually, unless they turn to hail. Only sissies carry umbrellas in western Colorado. Samuel R. Delaney wrote a book, Nova, where one of the characters grew up on a moon. That character prefers barren landscapes. I prefer arid mountains where rain is a treat.
Well done!! We need the water – wherever we are. Everything is so much more fresh after a good hearty dowsing. Hope your garden appreciates it even more than you do!! It was wonderful, simply brilliant, not to hear those dreaded words in the UK this summer: HOSEPIPE BAN!! Bring on the rain, i say!
Way back in the mid seventies there was a bit of a dry spell in the UK; things got a little fraught and a Minister for Drought was appointed. A visit to the cinema seemed like a good way to escape the heat – whatever the movie was it featured a downpour. As one the audience whooped and cheered when the rain came. So I know how you feel.
Come to Belgium. We officially had our summer in April/May and it’s been raining almost continiously in June/July/August. Fortunetaly, with the start of the new academic year we seem to be having a nice “été indien”, so that the new freshmen can start on a nice, sunny green campus.
Would you like some of ours from the UK? We’ve had way too much of the stuff. Trying to remember what the sun looks like.
I totally agree! I’ve been needing the rain almost since LAST YEAR. I actually heard about the storm at the end of last week and have been tracking it since it started up in British Columbia. =) Rain is finally cleaning all this gunk down the drains and out of the streets! I love (California) rain!