The sky says it all

Gloomy looking, with the promise of rain--and today, rain is what's been falling all day. (For the record, the photo is not a black-and-white; that's how the day really looked.)

I heard a rather startling comment during a weather report: that today brings the province's first atmospheric river of the season. I thought such phenomena were a once-a-year (if that) event, but no, that's apparently no longer the case. 

I'd also thought the term was fairly new, but no, it seems it's been around for a while. 

Today's weather seems complicated, as today is also Election Day here in BC, with the possibility of a new provincial government. 

And yes, I can only hope those dark skies aren't promising anything worse than more than wet weather. 

Still parched

It's been too long since the last decent rainfall. One result, besides the brown lawns up and down our street, is the way the smoke-filled skies aren't clearing. 

This morning looked like heavy fog, only it wasn't fog. Everything was still shrouded in smoke, mostly from fires in Washington and Oregon states, our neighbours to the south. Air quality warnings remain in effect. 

Clearly the autumn crocuses are feeling the effects of no rain, and probably from the smoke as well. 

At least there's a bit of rain in the forecast. I can only hope the weather predictions are right, as everything could really use a drink of water. 

        quiet pink sigh

        the last breath of summer

        before the rains

 

40 days (and 40 nights)

That's how long it's been since we've had rain. 

The rain barrels have both been empty for weeks. The lawns are parched, too many trees look droopy. Even the ever-fresh daisies are looking tired. 

Water restrictions are in place, though luckily still only at Phase One locally. 

Naturally, we're not supposed to waste water by washing cars (hardly an essential demand). Fortunately, we are still permitted to hand-water our vegie gardens.

Tomorrow will be Day 41, the day we'll tie the longest dry spell experienced here. As for the rest of the province, the forecast -- especially with raging wildfires -- is not looking good. 

Biblical? Nearly. 

Crossing fingers on behalf of the plants, especially the trees, that they'll soon be able to get un-parched. 

Rainy day weekend

And on what's supposed to be a long weekend.

The Victoria Day weekend is supposed to mark the beginning of summer. It's the time people put plants into the ground, or bring their indoor ones outside. It's often observed by having the first barbecue or picnic or trip out of town.

It's also always been the weekend for the Cloverdale Rodeo, though this year, along with just about everything else that might draw a crowd, it's been cancelled. It's not something we always go to, though last year, with out-of-town guests visiting, we took in one day of the fair.

Because yesterday was dark and gloomy and rainy all day, I figured it was a good time to start a jigsaw puzzle. I'm lucky enough to have a few on the shelf, as they're another of those everyday items whose price has skyrocketed owing to the demand from bored stay-at-homers.

The photo on top shows how far I managed to get on the first day of puzzling. Not even all of the edge pieces in place, as several of those were well disguised (at least to my eye).

Today after breakfast, I dove back in, trying to put the rest of those cheesy pieces in place.

Not too surprisingly, the Swiss cheese section was the hardest. Even looking at the picture on the box didn't seem to help.

Slowly, trial-by-error, taking a piece and trying, trying, trying it -- that was my method, hardly very scientific, I am sure.

But as I fiddled, my mind wandered, and I thought there are probably quite a few things in life that we manage by exactly the same method. We try something, if it works out, great. When it doesn't, we try to get over it and move on, and try another way of addressing the problem.

And then, just as I was in the home stretch on the cheese, to my surprise and delight, the sun burst forth.

I don't really think that had a lot to do with my finishing the puzzle, though the coincidence felt fun.

And who knows, maybe next time there's a rainy long weekend, I'll have to see if making a puzzle works the same weather miracle.

Practising for Life on Mars

That's pretty much what it's looked like. Smoke from all the wildfires, to the South and North and West have managed to fill the skies with a fog-like blanket. Only it's not the benign mist fog usually carries. This is smelly -- I guess, the smell of carbon.

The photo looks a lot like a harvest moon. Only it isn't the moon. It's the afternoon sun. The light it cast was eerie enough that even the birds went into hiding. The last time I saw that happen was almost exactly a year ago, during last August's solar eclipse.

Maybe the reason I'm thinking this orangey light seems like Mars is that it was only a couple of weeks ago I again saw the Matt Damon movie, The Martian.

Rain -- or at least the possibility of precipitation -- has been hinted at for this coming weekend. Considering we've barely had a drop since June, it would be a welcome relief.

And when there's enough of it, it will (we all hope) clear the air and douse the fires that are burning up our province and so much of the coast.

Rain. Even on Mars, they're thinking they've found water. It's time we get some here again.

Exhale

Well, this time the weather people were right about the rain. It started yesterday morning and came down pretty much all through the night. Hurrah!

With this end to the drought, it feels like I can exhale. There's something about waiting (and waiting) for rain that makes me feel like I have to hold my breath. I guess I must be acclimatized to where I live.

Along with the wet came a whole lot of wind, but we were among the lucky ones. None of our trees came down (huge ones at a friend's place did, crushing her deck), just a lot of small branches, spruce cones and cedar bits.

Our power was out for nearly 24 hours, but we're pretty well set to deal with those sorts of emergencies. Still, it was a good wake-up call -- enough of one that the generator has been tuned up and is set for the next round of whatever.

The garden sure looks happy though and the trees appear to be smiling again. Me too.

Canada Dry

And I don't mean the ginger ale.

When people learn where I live (not far from Vancouver), they often remark on the weather, and ask how I can bear all the rainfall.

But this year has been different. It seems as though it's hardly rained since April.

We've been visiting a friend on nearby Salt Spring Island where water supply in the summertime is often precarious.

As with the Lower Mainland, it's dry, dry, dry here. I can only hope this poor parched azalea (or is it a rhododendron?) will recover once the drought comes to end.

They keep predicting rain, but it hasn't been panning out. The skies will darken, and then the clouds will pass.

Hmm. Can you say 'climate change'?