rain
Yesterday there was rain that made everything good.
Moreso because no one knew it was coming. Well, at least I didn't. I had gone walking to the grocery store in my new excellent summer shirt. It is spaghetti strap and tight and dark colored enough to do away with the want of a bra, and it's very little fabric. It's really low cut, but there is lace that hides the clevage line, and lace on the bottom that makes it cover the belly. But it's TOUGH looking lace. The shirt is the best. Summer is so so hot here in Albuquerque. So hot I want every shirt to be like that one. I was used to Santa Fe; Santa Fe had these perfect summers where it never goes over 89 degrees and it's light and airy and sunny. Albuquerque has these summers where... I don't know. According to our theormostat in the apartment it has been no cooler than 80 degrees inside our apartment the past month, and by nighttime it is closer to 90. And the sun in New Mexico is intense.
Yesterday I left the house smelly, to ride my bike to a pool and get some sweet relief. When I arrived, even smellier and sweatier... the pool was closed to technical difficulties. The nearest other pool was another 4 miles away from home. My mountain bike and I do a pretty slow 4 miles sometimes, and I hadn't packed a water bottle. So I swung by the co-op, got some almond icecream bon bons, and went home. Went to the yard and sprayed myself with the hose (effective! better than I excpected), took a real shower, and put on my ultimate summer shirt and shorts for a cooled down evening walk to get some popcorn and stop by the discount liquor store.
While in line at Smith's I heard these people talking. One was a white and the other was native. They seemed like they knew each other, and as the white lady left she asked the native guy to make it rain. I stood there wondering if that comment had annoyed him. I stood thinking about rain dances as he left. While my food was being wrung up one of the store employees came in and said, "It's raining!"
WHAT!
And you could feel everyone being excited about it. I went out and it was lightly starting to rain. One side of the sky was crazy orange. There was lightening. It was more of that end-of-the-world Albuquerque weather that makes me love this place so much.
The rain got heavy and fast really quickly. When I left the house my hair was drying from my shower- while in the store it mostly dried and here I was in my most summery shirt and absolutely soaked. Things were hilarious and beautiful. I don't remember the last time it rained here. My smile was big as I walked down the side walk. A guy in a hoodie asked if I had a cigarette. I paused, because a couple months ago I DID buy a pack, but it wasn't with me so I told him sorry, but no. He then said somethingI didn't hear, and I turned around and asked what and he said I looked pretty.
Walking down the street variations of that statment can go so many different ways. Infuriatingly vulgar, irrelevantly annoying, and sometimes an okay compliment and with the rain and the happiness everyone felt for the rain it was definitely a skip-to-your-step kind of compliment and I told him thank you and he told me he didn't see how I was dressed like this out here. I told him the rain surprised me and we expressed how great it was that it was here and admired how cool the sky looked and he took a picture of it and I continued on to the the discount liqour store. By this time my flip flops were nothing but slippery slosh under my feet, so I carried them in my hand instead.
Then I had another interaction that which under different circumstances would have angered me. A man in a truck slowed down and asked if I wanted a ride home. But right then, it totally made sense! I was wet as hell and carrying a grocery bag! But I thanked him and told him that home was pretty close by and he friendily drove on.
So I crossed the street to the liqour store. This was funny, because I stopped in earlier to ask when they closed, wanting to go to the grocery store first. Back then I was freshly showered and looking pretty put together. This time I was as wet as a person can get, and holding a soaking grocery bag full of produce and popcorn. When I walked in one of the employees asked, "Wait, did you get that wet just getting out of your car?!" I browsed the store and reminised with an employee about east coast beers that are too expensive to import into New Mexico. I got some Montana beers, and headed home, declining an offer of a garbage bag for my person, as it was far too late to attempt dryness.
This morning the soil is still wet. I think our tomatoes are very happy.
Moreso because no one knew it was coming. Well, at least I didn't. I had gone walking to the grocery store in my new excellent summer shirt. It is spaghetti strap and tight and dark colored enough to do away with the want of a bra, and it's very little fabric. It's really low cut, but there is lace that hides the clevage line, and lace on the bottom that makes it cover the belly. But it's TOUGH looking lace. The shirt is the best. Summer is so so hot here in Albuquerque. So hot I want every shirt to be like that one. I was used to Santa Fe; Santa Fe had these perfect summers where it never goes over 89 degrees and it's light and airy and sunny. Albuquerque has these summers where... I don't know. According to our theormostat in the apartment it has been no cooler than 80 degrees inside our apartment the past month, and by nighttime it is closer to 90. And the sun in New Mexico is intense.
Yesterday I left the house smelly, to ride my bike to a pool and get some sweet relief. When I arrived, even smellier and sweatier... the pool was closed to technical difficulties. The nearest other pool was another 4 miles away from home. My mountain bike and I do a pretty slow 4 miles sometimes, and I hadn't packed a water bottle. So I swung by the co-op, got some almond icecream bon bons, and went home. Went to the yard and sprayed myself with the hose (effective! better than I excpected), took a real shower, and put on my ultimate summer shirt and shorts for a cooled down evening walk to get some popcorn and stop by the discount liquor store.
While in line at Smith's I heard these people talking. One was a white and the other was native. They seemed like they knew each other, and as the white lady left she asked the native guy to make it rain. I stood there wondering if that comment had annoyed him. I stood thinking about rain dances as he left. While my food was being wrung up one of the store employees came in and said, "It's raining!"
WHAT!
And you could feel everyone being excited about it. I went out and it was lightly starting to rain. One side of the sky was crazy orange. There was lightening. It was more of that end-of-the-world Albuquerque weather that makes me love this place so much.
The rain got heavy and fast really quickly. When I left the house my hair was drying from my shower- while in the store it mostly dried and here I was in my most summery shirt and absolutely soaked. Things were hilarious and beautiful. I don't remember the last time it rained here. My smile was big as I walked down the side walk. A guy in a hoodie asked if I had a cigarette. I paused, because a couple months ago I DID buy a pack, but it wasn't with me so I told him sorry, but no. He then said somethingI didn't hear, and I turned around and asked what and he said I looked pretty.
Walking down the street variations of that statment can go so many different ways. Infuriatingly vulgar, irrelevantly annoying, and sometimes an okay compliment and with the rain and the happiness everyone felt for the rain it was definitely a skip-to-your-step kind of compliment and I told him thank you and he told me he didn't see how I was dressed like this out here. I told him the rain surprised me and we expressed how great it was that it was here and admired how cool the sky looked and he took a picture of it and I continued on to the the discount liqour store. By this time my flip flops were nothing but slippery slosh under my feet, so I carried them in my hand instead.
Then I had another interaction that which under different circumstances would have angered me. A man in a truck slowed down and asked if I wanted a ride home. But right then, it totally made sense! I was wet as hell and carrying a grocery bag! But I thanked him and told him that home was pretty close by and he friendily drove on.
So I crossed the street to the liqour store. This was funny, because I stopped in earlier to ask when they closed, wanting to go to the grocery store first. Back then I was freshly showered and looking pretty put together. This time I was as wet as a person can get, and holding a soaking grocery bag full of produce and popcorn. When I walked in one of the employees asked, "Wait, did you get that wet just getting out of your car?!" I browsed the store and reminised with an employee about east coast beers that are too expensive to import into New Mexico. I got some Montana beers, and headed home, declining an offer of a garbage bag for my person, as it was far too late to attempt dryness.
This morning the soil is still wet. I think our tomatoes are very happy.