The Arizona temperatures are cooling down. They now measure in the high 90’s F during the day and 70’s F at night. It still sounds hot, but is a definite improvement.
By about the second week in October, temps will fall out of the 90’s into the 70’s and 80’s during the day for the remainder of the winter. It’s this time of year everyone visits and/or moves to the American Southwest.
At the beginning of every winter I pledge never to leave, and during every summer I can’t bear to spend another day in the heat. Everyone excuses the unbearable summers with ‘at least it’s a dry heat,’ and ‘you don’t have to shovel it!’ But it can kill you. Really.
As the searing desert heat begins to cool, the landscape shows signs of a second spring. Flowers begin to blossom again and desert creatures come out during the day, including humans. It becomes a paradise hard to resist. I am impressed all over again by the abundance of life; blossoms of unbelievable brilliance and flurries of birds of all kinds.
As the heat becomes yet again a memory, I begin to fall in love with the desert all over again.
‘Canyon Light’ © Wendy Fallon
watercolor
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