This is August 2012 along the Duranes ditch in Albuquerque’s north valley. The ditch on the left is relatively new. The spur to the right, obscured by the sunflowers, has been in continuous use for more than 300 years. The previous 24 months for this climate division had been the second driest such stretch on …
Continue reading ‘Where does this fit into our definition of “drought”?’ »
Many years ago, one of the newspapers I read (I think the Christian Science Monitor) held a contest, inviting readers to pen a weather forecast in the style of their favorite writer. I chose Hemingway: It was hot. Sadly, I never sent it in. This is one of my life’s great regrets. (Memory triggered by …
Many years ago, when I lived in California, I was walking down the street with a friend, an old Italian-Catholic grandmotherly woman who I knew through her work fighting against the construction of a freeway through our town. I was sharing my fascination with these tenacious little juvenile palm trees that had found a niche …
Sometimes the best graffiti involves subtraction rather than addition:
As Sandy converges on our stark, inevitable fate, people outside the weather nerd community are being again confronted by our dark, uncomfortable question – why do the official forecasts always make it seem like they’re shouting? Why do the forecasters always write in all caps? There are times when this feels right: FLOOD WATCH FOR …
Regional water planning, it turns out, is the first step toward One World Government: The Integrated Regional Water Management Plan may sound harmless, but it is part of this “regionalization” program. Control of water on rural lands will transfer from landowners to government control agents or “water masters,” who will begin their work imposing limits …
So Pablo Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright and Miles Davis walk into a bar….
The bird in Regent’s Park seemed goose-like enough. But too small, and with the dark and light bits in the wrong places. I grabbed my pocket guide. “Unlike much larger Canada Goose, black extends over breast and body is grey (not brown).” Ah yes, the Barnacle goose. Check. In London’s Underground, a cheery female voice …
The geography of human history comes in layers. We are often drawn to the same spots over time for the same reasons, building on what came before – often literally “on”, as in “on top of”. Or we come to the same spot because that’s where the people already are. But the historical layering of …