Meanderings.

Rain is coming. This is a shot from my backyard, and as dry as our last few summers have been, the rain is oh, so welcome.

The forecast is a bit alarming. 3 or 4 storms are coming. 8 to 12 inches in the foothills in the second storm alone. Uh, we live in the foothills. Now, my dear readers, this is Los Angeles. We freak out when it rains, and a rain storm in this area usually delivers about 1/10th of an inch. We don't have a clue how to drive in it and we actually cancel appointments and stay home. We exchange theatre tickets... we won't go to a party. We barely make it to work. This is just the way it is. We have so little experience with wet weather. We have so little experience with any weather at all!

(Earthquakes we get, as much as any people can. We know we will be alone for at least 3 days. We've been told and we've experienced it. We've laid aside water and food, rope and batteries, the old fashion transistor radio. We have emergency shut-off valves on our gas lines. Oh, Gosh, poor Haiti. Wish we could do more than send money. Younger, healthier, more experienced individuals will have to rescue Haiti's population. I send all my good will to the Haitians and all my admiration to the people trying to help. My heart breaks.)

Our rain storms have the potential to do a bit of damage. We have extensive "burn-areas" and the risks of mud-slides and flash-floods are very real. Our advantage is that we've been warned. We just need to be smart and we will be okay. I am shopping tomorrow so my husband and I can just "hunker down." We will play games and eat and visit. We will watch some of the many programs we've downloaded from Netflix. We will hope that my one appointment on Tuesday falls in between the storms. (I will leave really early!) My husband says, "At least we'll know if we have any leaks..."

I took a lovely walk today and the children I saw cheered me. Two boys were playing in the parking lot of our local park. One on a bicycle, one on a skate board. They were both circling the lot. I am not sure if they even knew each other, both so wrapped up in their own separate adventure. The one on the bike would peddle up the gentle grade and then attempt simple tricks. He had, hmm, like handle bars coming out the sides of his wheels. He would stop peddling and put his feet on these bars, glide around and get an amazing amount of mileage from the left-over energy. He was elegant. The skateboarder simply circled and paid no attention to the cyclist. Lost somewhere in his head. Neither seemed to notice me at all. Deeper in the park a number of smaller children were climbing and sliding and swinging all over the first of two play-sets. A little peanut, she couldn't have been more than 3 years old, was screaming in her mother's arms. She clearly had had some kind of scare and needed Mom for a moment. Still screaming, she broke away from Mom and ran back to the slide. She had to play. As soon as she got herself back to the slide, she stopped screaming and was laughing again. Amazing. A clear dichotomy, but there it was. She made me smile.

My meanderings for the day.