Monsoon Season!

 Monsoon season in Arizona is generally July and August.  When I was a kid, we'd have afternoon downpours at least two or three times per week.  The sky would be blue.  Then within half an hour or so, it started pouring.  It could be absolutely torrential.  Twenty minutes later it would stop.  The sun would come out.  An hour later, you'd never know it had rained.  And our swamp coolers would lose all effectiveness in the humidity.

Okay, so it wasn't quite that regular.  But that's what it feels like in my memory.

Last year, we hardly had any rain at all during monsoon season, leaving our plants and animals to languish.  This year, monsoons have caused flooding.  Weather is a powerful force.

I don't have good pictures of the last storm, because there's no way I was taking my camera out in such weather,.  It soaked my pants in about 15 seconds.  The bike path was a literal river that knocked several strong young men off their feet as they were trying to cross.  

A few nights before that, we watched the lightning storm across town.  There must have been three or four flashes per second for some of it.  

Another day I got to eat my lunch at a rainy lakeside park where the ducks seemed very confused about what was falling from the sky.  It's all been amazing.  Just no amazing photos.  

Here, at least, are some clouds (which we sometimes don't see for months):