Thanksgiving break is over, as well as Christmas break and spring break as well as writers block break.

Summer is here! Fun facts about summer in Arizona:

You cannot fry eggs on the sidewalk, been tried, makes a mess

You can leave a cool cup of coffee in your car in the morning and in the afternoon it is too hot to drink.

I’m pretty sure you can also brew tea in the car.

It can get too hot to go swimming in the afternoon.

June 26, 1990, it was 122 degrees, the airport had to shut down, they didn’t have takeoff and landing information for that intense heat, the air thins and aircraft need more runway I walked outside, said “damn, it’s hot,” and came back inside.

There is the famous, “but it’s a dry heat!” so is a convection oven.

It’s the monsoon season, which brings incredible storms to the valley.  There’s nothing quite like looking out the window and watching a wall of dust, as high as you can see, obliterating the sky! Looking out our back door, first Camelback Mountain is engulfed and disappears in a wall of dirty brown, next Mummy Mountain vanishes as well. At that point, we are about 5 minutes away from the wall.

Palm trees bend, the light gets an odd brown tint due to the dust, patio furniture takes on a life of it’s own, (reminiscent of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice for you Disney Fans), some It taking a dip in the pool and the storm starts in earnest.

Now the wind really picks up, lightning is flashing and thunder is roaring and a torrential rain starts. Last year in the middle of this we were out front, mid-calf high water rushing down the street clearing out storm drains, news chopper overhead and cars going down the street drenching us further with boat size wakes. I thought for sure they would have understood my simple sign language.

Ten minutes later it’s over, the sun comes out and the famous “dry” heat magically transforms to humid, soaking, jungle like heat, 95 degrees, 80% humidity. 

Out back the crystal clear pool now looks like the muddy Mississippi, I swear I’ve seen catfish there following these storms, and I know the patio chairs are in there somewhere, but I’m not going in now. 

But it is magical here in the summer.

By the way, the book is finally started!