Los Angeles is getting the edge of a major storm, the first rain of the season. People at the bases of the burned mountains look nervously upslope, waiting for debris flows. Elsewhere it is calm, and the earth swells, drinking.
Tomorrow the Los Angeles River will be full, and Ballona Creek will fill its culvert as it flows through Culvert City.
I have been a Californian long enough that October rains bring me a sense of the calendar clicking over, a New Year beginning. Today I felt wet concrete against my bare feet and thought of miner’s lettuce. Today I watched the rain clouds pass the high peaks on their way into the desert. The tortoises will come out of their holes to drink tomorrow. The washes will be new-carved, braids of still-wet sand glistening when the sun returns.
Arizona. I’m jealous.
Take six.
And take me with you. ;)