Rain in Wonder Valley

Wonder Valley is more than 1000' lower than the Copper Mountain Mesa, where our little cabin is located. That makes it about 10 degrees hotter in the summer (9 degrees if you're a man), and a little warmer in the winter, too. There's considerably less rain, but not yesterday. Generally the climate in Wonder Valley is harsh, arid, extreme, so it's a little like Christmas when it rains, and rains steady. I took these photographs yesterday at the Palms. This is in the back yard of the restaurant, looking toward the Pinto Mountains and Highway 62. You can just make out the mountains in the background.

The light yesterday was like nothing I'd ever seen in the area, soft and muted, close and confidential. The landscape offered itself up to our gaze.

Inside, Miss Ida Lane played piano. A tin bowl on top of the piano caught water dripping through the ceiling. Ken had printed song sheets so all of us together sang Wabash Cannonball, The Yellow Rose of Texas, Uncloudy Day, Angel Band and everyone's favorite, Waltzing Matilda.

I heard New Jimmie built the windmills below, or the facsimiles of windmills,  in the back of the Palms. Whatever they are they are haunting in this photo. Considering the behemoth wind turbines dominating the landscape far to the east these seem like the doing of cargo cults.

Rain or shine, Wonder Valley is a magical place, peopled with the most delightful humans.