There’s an old joke about the weather in California that goes a little like this: California has only two seasons. Wet and dry. Well, we’re in the third year of a pretty bad drought, and while we as a family have been doing really great in terms of water conservation (I think we’ve cut our use to almost 40 percent), most of the good folks in the southern part of the state haven’t been as water conscious as we have. They’ve been slipping since September/October in terms of usage because, well, it was hotter than hell down there last month.
This month we’ve been lucky enough to get a couple of pretty good storms. A good amount of snow in the mountains, and even LA has gotten drenched. But two storms don’t mean the drought is over. It’s going to take years to get out of this, and I think we as a state are going to have to implement some permanent water conservation methods from here on out. California is pretty arid, but we have 38 million people who live here. Plus, there’s an agricultural sector that grows water-hungry crops that, on the face of it, is silly. But if there’s a buck to be made, however, someone will pressure folks in Sacramento to give them water permits.
Anyway, the point of this post is not to rag on water-wasters or farmers who plant crops that have no business growing in a water poor part of the world. No, it’s actually about enjoying the way in which the rain kind of changes the landscape.
I took a walk yesterday to get some exercise and while I almost always take my phone with me so I can listen to music, my phone also has a pretty a-okay camera as well. Walking back from the downtown Walnut Creek area, I traversed over the pedestrian/bike bride over Treat Blvd, and was looking at the suspension part of the bridge and thought, “There’s gotta be a good picture here.” I snapped a few, and finally got one that I thought looked kind of cool.
I think what makes it a good one for me is the angle — and the fact that I caught a guy riding his bike in the frame, too.
Then I wanted to get a good shot of the intersection of Treat Blvd and Jones Road, but this didn’t come out the way I had hoped. It looks a little “off.” Like there’s a good shot there, but I just didn’t have the right angle or even ability to compose it right.
Finally, as I came home, there’s a tree in my neighbor’s yard that my mom was saying she liked the coloring of the leaves. I tried to get a good angle on that as well, but I just couldn’t find the right one. I took a couple of shots, and while I think the camera captured the color of the leaves, it just doesn’t look quite right.
I used to love the winter and loathe the summer because of the heat. But now? Maybe because I’ve been bicycling quite a lot during the spring and summer, my ability to tolerate the heat has increased and now I like both seasons…wet and dry.