Ten things I love about rain in the desert:
1. The rarity of it all. I just love the rain, and when it comes I want it to stay forever. I say that I would love it to rain every single day. I think that at the time, but in reality I know it would get old, and a lot dreary, after a while. The reason I love the rain so much is that it never happens here. This is a desert for a reason - it is not wet. So when the rain comes, it is almost like a little nibble from the forbidden fruit - making it all the more desirable. But who would really want it to rain all the time here? Then it would be all green and overgrown and tropical, just like Hawaii, and who would want that? Um, me. But alas, this is not Hawaii. It is the desert, and the rare rainstorm in the desert is a blessed thing!
2. The smell of the rain. Even before the rain comes, just the whiff of it in an impending rain is delightsome - that spicy tingle on the nose portends of what is to come. It stings the nose and smells like green and Grandpa and wool. Every time I walk outside in the rain I can't help but stop and suck it in like a thick milkshake. Ahhh!
3. The sound of the rain. That pat---- pat-----rat-a-pat-a-pat-tat-tat is music to my ears. Mother Nature is quite the percussionist! I can hear it best on the roof of the car, or sitting on the toilet. But my favorite place to listen to the rain is sitting in the big chair in the front room next to the open window where I can hear the fat raindrops plop into the fountain like kids doing cannonballs at the swimming hole. Plop! Plop! It makes for a great cadence to read by.
4. Soup. A rainstorm is a call for soup - soups in all it's varieties. This past storm it was tortilla soup, vegetable soup, tomato soup (with cheese, of course),white chili, curry (which is more like a stew, but shares the same category as far as I'm concerned) and best of all, and reserved for only the coldest and rainiest of days, Dad's Oyster Stew. Just the thought of it makes me all warm inside and I start to salivate. I hesitate to share the recipe with anyone outside of the family, because they just might think it sounds disgusting - plump green oysters floating in milk and cream, egg noodles, puddles of melted butter, and sprinkled with lots of pepper. Oyster sauce (must be Dynasty brand, Dad's orders) gives it a perfect salty sweetness. Some of my earliest and warmest memories are of staying up late enough to watch Daddy make a late night snack of oyster stew (yep, even after we had already had dinner) and feeling like the lucky one that got to have a small bowl while my siblings slept. I am happy that oyster stew is now my kids favorite meal as well, (since in my mind it is as important a Signs' family tradition as cheese balls at Christmas), and when the rain starts to fall, it is what they ask for. Mmm, mmm good!
5. Puddles. Perhaps it is because I was a desert rat that I have always been fascinated by bodies of water. Lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds fascinated me as a child. I imagined what it must be like to live in a place where there was a pond in the back and a little creek running by. So when the desert rains come, I am thrilled when grassy parks turn into ponds, gutters turn into babbling brooks, and streets turn into canals. Everything is transformed! As kid I imagined that there were fish in there and that I could rig me up a fishin' pole with a stick like Huck Finn and catch some dinner. I am not the only one who loves the temporary water holes. In that last big rain I saw folks at a neighborhood park-turned-lake floating around in their inflatable boat. And I still get a little thrill out of splashing in the rain puddles, and an even bigger one driving my Surburban through the large pools of standing water in the streets. You can still be driving slowly when the waves your tires make come clear up to the windows. Except when there is traffic coming the other way, then the game is to see if I can drive slow enough to not make any splash at all, like an Olympic high diver - extra points for a clean entry!
6. Sweaters - I love sweaters - in theory. Warm and snuggly! I say "in theory" because even with all the sweaters I own, (more than there are actual chilly days in the year), when that blessed rainy, chilly days comes, I gleefully try on a sweater that I have been waiting all year to wear, just to remember that the sleeves are too short. They are almost all too short - or, rather, my arms are almost always too long. I dream of the perfect long sleeved sweater to wear on the perfect rainy day. But alas, such a thing has yet to be. Until then, when there is a chill in the air, I wear one of the otherwise darling cuddly sweaters I do have and tug at my cuffs all day. A small price to pay for sweater weather.
7. Hot chocolate - Heaven in a cup! My one true weakness in the wintertime. Is there anything better than creamy hot chocolate flowing down your gullet, warming you up from the inside out? Every January when we all start looking to shed those holiday pounds, its the hot chocolate that holds me back. Cold weather calls for hot chocolate - hey, even mildly cool weather. Anything below 60 - I'm there! But when it is raining, hot chocolate is absolutely imperative! And for my hot chocolate, only the best will do - Stephens. Period. (Thanks you, Winco!) I love it extra strength and a really big mug with milk, mini marshmallows, and a chocolate dipped biscotti. Morning. Nightime. Anytime. I never lose weight in the rain for this very reason, so it is a good thing rain is so rare, I guess.
8. Baths. I love the pull and tug of opposites - sweet and salty, laughing till you cry, hot and cold. And in a rainstorm I love taking a hot, hot bath near an open window. When we bought this house I was thrilled about the big beautiful soaking tub until I realized that the big picture window right above it was a fixed single pane - it didn't open! Baths lost all their appeal to me because as steamy and hot as I like them when I get in, it isn't long before I am overheated and have to get out. After years of whining about the useless window, Darling Hubby finally had it replaced with one that slides open. Now bath time is perfect! I open the window wide and kick up the heat - bubble bath, a tall glass of ice water, a good book, and a perfect storm! That's all I need! When I get hot, all I need to do is stick my foot out toward the window to act like a wick to cool me off, and the sound of the rain falling (see #3 above) is like icing on the cake.
9. The morning after the rain. The sun is shining again and the sky is clear. Colors are brighter than ever, and everything is clean and fresh. But my very favorite part is that very first glimpse of the mountains surrounding us, perfectly white and sparkling in the bright sun, like someone poured out giant piles of powdered sugar onto the desert floor. During the storm, I love to see the clouds sitting heavily on those mountains. The mountains look like giants that have been tucked snugly into their down comforters with wisps of feathers poking out the edges. I love seeing that, and anticipating the transformation that tomorrow will bring. When those storm clouds roll away...magic! Those mountains really are glorious- especially those first few daylight hours of the morning after the storm, with the palm trees swaying in the foreground! What a sight!
10. And then come the wildflowers! Just wait....
This has been another newsworthy week for the Van clan.
And then on Thursday we went to the district science fair. We were 45 minutes late (surprise surprise!) and walked in just in time Derek and Dylan's names to be announced. Great timing, if I do say so myself, at it is a LONG, LONG program. Dylan got first place for his project "Jiffy Lube" where he tested different kinds of lubrication on a pinewood derby car to see what made it go fastest. Derek also got a first place ribbon for his project "Weight For It!" where he used the same pinewood derby car to test where on the car is the best place to put the weights. Their projects were very similar in how they were done, making it much easier for us to do both, yet tested very different things about the car. 
Then all the blue ribbon winners had to stick around to see who would be the sweepstakes trophy winners. We stuck around to humor the boys, and guess what? They both won! Shocker! (We can't seem to lose a science fair even if we try.) This means that they both get to go on to the county science fair in April. So much for just being done with it, huh?
