I Live on Mars

I want you to know that I am not the only person who thinks this stretch of desert is rather desolate.  My brother-in-law visited for the first time last year and exclaimed, “It looks like Mars!” Another time, we had a missionary visiting our church on “deputation”. He was making small talk before he introduced to our church the work he was going to be doing, and he said, “Boy, those mountains are ugly…” and then when he realized his support might be on the line, he finished with, “…uh…in a majestic sort of way!” Hee hee!

 

But a wonderful thing happened in the desert yesterday.  It rained! God is good to send rain on the just and the unjust.  If I recall correctly, this is the first real rain we have had this year, in fact, in over a year!  It is soooo refreshing!  I love the smell of the wet streets.  It is kind of like liquid dirt.  It kind of stops in your nostrils and makes you breathe out of your mouth instead.  It almost stinks, but it means clean air when the streets dry :o)  It also means packed-down mountain bike trails for my husband, and that makes for a happy man in my house! I love to see the clouds in the sky and their shadows on the mountains.  On a clear sunny day the mountains all blend together and it is hard to distinguish one range from another. But it is amazing how you can see the different ranges when the clouds are shading some of them! The mountain shadows move with the clouds in the sky and change the landscape continually.  It’s like God is painting the scenery, and we get to watch. Sigh…. It really is beautiful. And our ocotillo is in bloom :o)  My girls will probably post photos tomorrow at Alizona and BookLover.