I found this photo on web called "Our Palo Verde in Bloom"
Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009 7:27 am
Swim on cold rainy Easter Saturday
The sky is looking bluer and I think the sun is coming out. The ground is all soft and wet now from rain for a night and a day and a night, and I am sure the trees are a million times happier. They did not have a drop of water to drink for a month and a half. For 6 weeks it was paradise out my window. Golden sun, blue sky. It was a treat unbelievable. And then out of nowhere in the middle of the night, the night before last, huge rumbling thunder, a huge incredible downpour. And it never went away. The world turned cold and dark and very rainy. O there is a drop of water glistening on the leaf out my window. What a miracle!
Now there is a lot of blue in the sky and sunshine splashing into yard, but still dense white wet clouds over mountains. But I think the blue sky and sunshine have won the day, today may be a nice day. It is so odd that for a full 6 weeks every single day was a glorious Easter Sunday, but now that Easter Sunday is here, it should be so trepidatious the way the sun and blue sky come back after their absence, like a timid knock at the door, so unsure of their welcome, when of course it is all we want. A tentativeness is the way it comes at first. It was such a bewildering rainstorm, something out of nowhere like that, and interrupting paradise. You knew every instant it was a good thing. So much vegetation and all of it in green spring finery now. The plants have to have their water, their leaves have to be drenched. And the earth around them had turned very hard too. Now it is moist just the way they like it, moist mushy sandy mud. Roots like that, roots drink in their water that way. Yes heaven watered the whole desert! And not sparingly either! Huge huge drenching rain, followed by another one, and then after that, constantly non-stop, for night for day for night, either sprinkling or raining or drenching rain. Rain rain rain in total abundance. O that must be the quail pecking at the stale bread I put out. They are all out, the sparrow, the big quail with their red helmet and plume, I even saw my woodpecker. It is the after-the-rain breakfast buffet.
I don’t think Bill and I would have gone swimming yesterday, it was no swimming weather! But the signs said “all pools closed for Easter Sunday.” We knew we wouldn’t be able to swim today, so we grabbed our chance to swim yesterday. And I had errands I wanted to do on way to pool and way home from the pool if we were not going to go out at all the next day.
I had bought skirt at Factory 2 U when we were at Sunflower market on Wednesday (Factory 2 U is right next door). There had been 2 skirts, different colors and patterns but otherwise the same, and both were a size too small for me. But I was in experimental mood. I asked the girl at check-out “which one should I get?” and she pointed to the one with the blues in it. She said “it goes with more things.” I had been attracted to the one with the colors of autumn leaves, but I went with her choice. And there had been little purses made by “Hugs and Kisses,” which had xxxoooo all over it. They were different shapes tho. And I let her choose which she thought was the prettiest shape and I got that. (O there is red cardinal! Sight for sore eyes! That flash of red! Absolute beauty!) And to my surprise the skirt fit! Not really fit of course, I have to leave the whole top open, but fit enough so I can wear it. And to my huge surprise I love it, I love wearing it. It is a cheap skirt, no lining, simple inexpensive poplin, but maybe because of that I like its feel, so light and airy. And it just happens to have a nice cut, I look down and I like the way it flows. Instantly I wanted the other one too, I knew they were skits I could live in all thru the hot blistering desert summer. So when Bill told me yesterday morning that he had tried to eat the spaghetti and meatballs I had gotten at Sunflower on Wednesday, but when he opened it up for supper the night before it was bad, so he ate the pot roast I had cooked for Beanie and had rice with it and made himself delicious stew instead. So I said “good! we will stop on the way to the pool, I will get my money back for the spaghetti and meatballs and there is something I want in Factory 2 U, and then on the way back from the pool we can stop at the other shopping center, I will buy bread at the bakery, kitchen sponges at the hardware store, and books to read at the charity store.”
The manager at Sunflower was wonderful to me. I had actually plucked the carton the spaghetti and meatballs had come in from out of the garbage can where Bill threw the whole thing, so I could show it to him when I asked for my money back. But when I got in the car I realized I had forgotten it by the sink. Bill said “Forget about it! Just tell him!”
The manager had a beautiful huge tattoo on his arm of the Goddess Vishnu, and on his wrist a beautiful big turquoise and silver bracelet. I told him the story of the spaghetti and meatballs, and showed him my grocery receipt, and instantly he said “Do your shopping and I will take the money off at the end!” I said “I don’t want to shop now, I want to go to Factory 2 U and then go swimming.” He said “OK, I'll write it all on your grocery slip and then you show it to them when you shop next and they will take the money off.”
It was while he was writing on my grocery slip that I noticed the beautiful bracelet and tattoo. “What beautiful turquoise!” I said, “where did you get it?” He said “it comes from India.” “O!” I said, “that is Indian turquoise, my own bracelets are Arizona turquoise and New Mexico turquoise.” I looked at it very carefully. “The bracelet is from India” he said, “I got it to go with my tattoo, it is the Goddess Vishnu.” The tattoo went all the way up his arm. “Wow!” I said, “wow, that is beautiful.” “So you’ve been to India” I said. “No” he said, “I asked my friend to get it for me, I wanted it to go with my tattoo.”
O I get it now, he had tattoo of Indian Goddess so he must have asked his friend to bring him back beautiful Indian bracelet to go with it, and that is the bracelet his friend chose. It is beautiful, the silver work is lovely and there is a lot of it and it gleams, and many beautiful large turquoises.
Then I signaled to Bill who was waiting in the truck near Factory 2 U, I made my fingers go in a circle to show him it all worked out, success! And I found the other skirt in Factory 2 U which is also size too small in the other pattern, and next to it another one. Neither is beautiful, neither is the one I am wearing now, but they are nice patterns and colors, and I just like the flow of them. And walking back to cash register I saw a pink purse also made by “Hugs and Kisses,” and it was the day before Easter, who can resist a pink purse made by Hugs and Kisses. The same girl at cash register was there. I told her I loved the purse she chose for me on Wednesday. She said “good.” “What do you think about this pink one?” I said, “I know it’s silly to get two purses, you always wind up using one and the other sits there, but if you think it’s very cute I will get it too.” She said “it is cute.” I said “OK, you only live once.” And I showed her I was wearing the skirt she chose for me, “I love it” I said. “Good” she said. “So I am getting the other 2, it will be cool in summer.” “Yes” she said.
“I bought myself Easter presents” I said to Bill when I got back in the truck, “and the manager in Sunflower was very nice, he didn’t want to see the carton, you were right about that and he wrote on my receipt to take the money off next time I shop.” “Good” Bill said, “Good.” He was very pleased.
And we took off for swim pool. “O no!” he said, “I see lightning over the mountains, they’ll shut the pool.” “We don’t know” I said, “the pool may be open.” But when we got there there were no cars at all, I didn’t see lifeguard in the stand. And when Bill went to talk to them, they told him “we are on stand-by.” So I got out of the car to find out what that meant. She said “we will be closed for at least a half an hour and if we see more lightning we close for another half hour.” “Forget about it” I said, “I am not that compulsive about my swim.” And so Bill and I set off for shopping center with bakery, hardware store, and old books.
“I’ll buy the bread, I’ll buy the sponges, and then meet you by the books.” Bill had just finished reading “Tom Jones” which he had bought there and loved it so much. “It is the best book I ever read” he said. I knew he was looking for another book. And I had enjoyed the mystery by Patricia Moyes so much, I wanted to see if they had any more by her. We were both looking forward to looking at the books.
But it was clear as soon as we drove up the charity bookstore was closed. It is St Vincent de Paul, I figured Easter was such a big deal to a Catholic organization they had to make a weekend of it. So I went to bakery. The rain had started up again as we were arriving from pool to shopping center. The girl in bakery said her friend just called, she is staying with her friend, and her friend said “you left without your umbrella and your raincoat and now it is raining hard, I will come and pick you up.” And she said how she appreciates it because as soon as she gets home she will have to walk her doggie in the pouring rain anyway. They must be living in an apartment if she has to walk the dog before and after work.
To my surprise Bill was in the hardware store when I arrived for sponges, he was getting stuff so he could start up our evaporative coolers for when the big heat arrives. So then we reached home with our purchases and Beanie ran around in circles, he was delighted to see us. Then to my huge surprise, Bill who had grumbled when we first got into the truck to go swimming, “I am only doing this for you, the last thing I want to do on a day like today is go swimming”-- to my huge surprise Bill said, “It looks like it is starting to clear, call the swim pool, see if they are open, we’ll go back and have our swim, if you don’t want to go I’ll go by myself.” “I want to go! I want to go! What a great idea!” I said.
I called the pool and they reluctantly admitted they were open and I could come over to swim. I understood their reluctance admitting it. It was freezing cold, terribly damp, very overcast, they did not want to sit up high up on lifeguard stand and watch swimmers. They wanted to be warm cozy together in lifeguard house. I thanked him very much and said “I am sorry to inconvenience you this way” and he said “that is what we are here for.”
We were sorry to disappoint Beanie but we were thrilled we were going to have our swim after all. And as Bill pointed out “now we don’t have to make any stops on way home.” And it really was freeing to throw down my purse, all my purchases, and just march out the front door free as a bird.
And my swimsuit was on under my clothes from when we had first started out the first time, so I said to Bill “here is my swim bag with shampoos, here is my towel, here is my clothes, leave it all by the bathhouse when you go in to change, I am just going to dive into the deep water.” The lifeguard still seemed a little grumpy when he came out to go up in lifeguard stand because I was going to dive into the water. He had been so merry and happy when he said “pool was closed” earlier on, he was not happy that now pool was open and he had to sit up in the cold and guard the swimmers. I said “I don’t have to be guarded, I am a Junior Lifesaver, you can go back into the house, if I need help I will call you.” But rules are rules. When we swam at private club there was never any lifeguard but at public pools, Willy, who is charge of all the lifeguards, makes them guard no matter what. Which to be honest makes no sense to me, as one of the lifeguards once pointed out “many of the lap swimmers were swimming before he was born and are better swimmers than he is.” And in fact I found out many of them used to be lifeguards.
“Is the water warm?” He was in no mood to gloss things over for me. “No!” he said, “it was a cold rain.” “Which is the warmest lane?” I asked. “I don’t know” he said. Naturally I was the only one there. I thought ‘This is exactly what it was like swimming in the Adirondacks, I would stand on a cold beach before I went in, about to dive into cold water, with heavy dense dark clouds all around the mountains, just the way they are here now.’ No matter how nostalgic I get for the Adirondacks, standing on that cold deck on dark cold cloudy day, facing cold water, I knew I would never return to that world. Once the girl has gotten a taste of sunny hot desert, she does not want to be cold and damp and chilly and uncomfortable; she likes to be happy in the warm dry sunshine.
But O I am so glad that Bill arranged for me to have my swim after all, when I had totally given up on it, I had decided it would not happen and I would accept it. It was such a surprise to be swimming when I hadn’t expected it, and it did feel good to swim, to stretch out in the water, and the water wasn’t that cold, it was fine. And I had long glorious swim.
And I saw another woman arrive for her swim. Pool is open till 4 pm on Saturdays, we had arrived at 3:20, the woman arrived for her swim 20 minutes before it closed. But she is smart, 20 minutes is not the longest swim in the world, but perfect for doing the trick. Bill was in lane next to me.
Few minutes before 4, I swam to the bathhouse, had nice long swim, and naturally at first it was freezing in there, there is no roof, and water in shower came out ice cold. But then it turned hot, delicious! And I washed my hair and soaped up, and then went to the middle area, since there was no one there, to towel off, spray on perfume, and a little vanilla cream at back of my heels, elbow, and knees. And I dressed. The girl lifeguard came in and she called out to the boy lifeguards “Don’t lock up yet! Anne is still in here.” It turned out they had locked up everything. “We found you just in time, Anne” she said, “else you would have been locked in over night.” I giggled and said “then I would have been the only one who swam on Easter Sunday.” I felt glorious when I arrived back on deck, there is nothing like being all fresh and clean and all refreshed, and warmed up from swim and hot shower.
We drove home so happily. “It’s always smart to go swimming if you have the chance” Bill said, when we got in the truck and were driving thru the parking lot of Fort Lowell Park. “Truer words were never said,” I said...
