Green Arizona

So many interesting things have been happening in the world lately. So much to observe, and think about. Once upon a time in this blog I used to write about the personal things in my life, but I hardly feel the time to do that lately. My own life seems small and unimportant compared all that is going on, not in a bad or depressing way, but in a peaceful way. Sitting here in my office and looking out the window, I feel at times like Pu Yi attending to his pet crickets, while the Cultural Revolution swirls about him. I feel as if I have lived many lives already in one---too many lives to get too hung about the present moment.

Arizona is green right now. The hills around where live have sprung vegetation from the ample rain. It seems as if every time I go out into the back yard to check the rain gauge, it has collected another half inch. I guess it was worthwhile buying the gauge after all at the local hardware store. At the time I thought it would be a whimsical purchase. Not so.

As I tell people, I have no intuition about the seasons here, about what is normal and what is abnormal. It takes at least a year of living in a place to develop that, and that is only a start. I depend on others to inform me that this year has been wetter and colder than usual here.

I feel the coldness in the house. I purchases four space heaters---they came one day from Amazon Prime in a giant crate on the porch---and we have them running much of the time, in one room or another. Last night it was down in the Thirties. Portland weather, I tell my colleagues, over the video conference. They don't believe me. Of course Portland has had weather that is more like Colorado.