We had Winter Last Week

Last week we had winter and monsoon season all in three days. It wasn't much of a winter for those of us accustom to midwest winters, but then, this being our 3rd winter in Las Vegas, we found it quite refreshing. The last 2 winters we have had a little snow at our house, but so far this year it has restricted itself to the mountains, which we can see from our home. I do love the snow and I love it even more from a viewing distance.

Just to give you a sense of how wintery it was here, and I use the term winter loosely, we had our 3 days of rain and 1.79 inches of official rain. We had another day of rain this week. The amazing thing is that we exceeded in 3 days all of the 2009 rainfall total (1.59 inches). It is an adjustment when you realize that 1.59 inches in a day in Indiana was not uncommon.

On Saturday morning, the first day after our rain I drove out to the Spring Mountains past the Red Rock Conservation area. I love going out at sunrise, especially when there are low clouds coming over the mountain. It almost looks like a waterfall or ocean wave cresting over the top of the mountain. As the sun crests to the east and I'm looking west at the mountains it touches the top lighting the top against the darkness of the rest of the mountain. There is a beauty I find difficult to describe as I watch the sun march down the mountain and bring life and beauty to it.

As the sun raises in the east it marches down the mountain in the west. Mixed with the clouds cresting over the mountains the mix of white, sunrise orange, , and gold of the rocks mixes to give a warm glow for the morning.