Saturday Walk

In the last 13 days, we've had rain 11 of them. That's a lot for Northern California, where the average yearly total is less than 20 inches. We get most of our rain in January. By April we will have little to no rain until November or December. Now a rainy day is like heaven to me. I love rain: the sound of it, the feel of it, the way the house feels when it's raining outside. I love everything about rain, so the past 13 days have been wonderful. I've been enjoying it immensely. And one of the things I love the most about a string of rainy days is what happened this morning.

After a sleepless night, I got up at 6:30 am. My little dog got up with me and we sat in the big round chair for awhile, reading the newspapaer (me) and getting petted (him). When it got light outside, I got dressed and hitched Willie up to his leash and we went out for a nice, long walk. As I stepped outside I could feel something wonderful. The air was so clean and so fresh smelling, a smell that could only be brought on by a long cleansing rain. The sky was the famous deep blue that so many people live here for. The temperature was perfect for a walk, upper 40s with the taste of a breeze. The streets and sidealks were wet and when Willie sniffed the grass, he came up with a wet face. The freshness of the day, the quiet of the morning and the smell of the air are why I love the rain so much. We only get that after it has rained long enough to really clean things up.

I've lived here for 37 years. I've wanted to live elsewhere, where there are more than two seasons and the average rainfall is more than 20 inches per year. I miss the rain from April to November. But this morning, it was the perfect start of a day in Northern California.