Late Night Drinking

In the early hours of Sunday morning, before sunrise, I could hear a dripping noise – or rather lots of dripping noises – from outside. It was familiar, as I’ve been hearing it from time to time over the last four or five weeks. It is one of the very lovely features of the the climate here at this time of year. After a hot sunny daytime, late at night (or early in the morning) a mist or fog rolls in all the way from the ocean twelve or more miles away. It is the result of marine layer, a term that is often -although not really accurately- used for the fog itself.

The fog condenses on everything, and while not being actual rain (we haven’t had any in the main part of the Los Angeles basin in a long while), results in a great deal of moisture on the ground and the trees and bushes, keeping lots of vegetation green through this otherwise dry period of the year. That’s the dripping I could hear. This is presumably how this wonderful natural desert sustained a variety of flora and fauna long before the city, with its wasteful sprinklers and greedy lawns, was even a couple of huts connected by dirt roads.

On my Sunday morning hike in Griffith Park, even at 11:00am the mist had not yet withdrawn fully, and so I was able to capture an interesting photograph of it for you. It’s the one above. Look closely (click for larger view). I think it is rather lovely. Sadly, it is the same sort of photos that the ignorant who like to believe every negative cliché about Los Angeles will point to and say “look at all that smog”. It isn’t smog. It’s one of the methods the city uses to get a much needed drink and keep itself green, working secretly while we sleep.

-cvj