Sunday, February 16, 2014

Stormy skies

 San Xavier del Blanc Mission
Tucson

It was a brilliant and very warm ninety degrees when we left Arizona on Saturday.  Driving to the airport from Tubac, we stopped for a few minutes at the Tucson mission, blinding white against the blue sky.  But the weather soon darkened as the plane flew north, and you could barely make out the Grand Canyon below through the gloomy clouds. 

Seattle is making up for a dry winter with a stack of powerful February storms. They say it will be pouring almost non-stop for the next week.  On top of that, an "epic" amount of snow will fall in the mountains.  Something like 7 feet!  Finally good news for our summer water supply. Bad news for anyone who needs to travel.

A major windstorm welcomed us home last night. The pilot mentioned "a bumpy ride ahead," an aviation euphemism for "get ready to be tossed around like a sardine in a can." It was one of those long landing approaches with kids screaming in delight and/or terror and folks on the packed plane applauding in relief when we finally touched down on the runway. A nice gesture, if the pilots can hear it.

Smooth or rough, I always try to look them in the eye and say thanks when I deplane, but they were long gone by the time we struggled up to the cockpit.   Maybe the pilots were as glad as the passengers to get off.
So back to Seattle reality and all that. We cranked the heat up, but goodness the bed still felt clammy last night.   Today is unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping and getting ready for the humdrum week ahead. Like the millions of Snow Birds, we had a wonderful winter break in beautiful Arizona.  (Of course, they're still down there lazing around in their RV's.) But a rainy Sunday night under the afghans catching up on Downton Abbey sounds pretty good too.

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