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I'd gone the whole summer without experiencing that classic Monsoon problem of suddenly finding myself driving down a river. But this evening, as I drove back from Phoenix into a gorgeous bank of thunderheads north of Picacho Peak, it happened. And I was terrified, since a two-lane.portion of interstate full of commuters and 18-wheelers, with the shoulder temporarily closed off, is the last place I want to be when I can't see. There was a bizarre dust fog at one point too, from the outflow. But once I made it to the exit and inhaled deeply from the vents, I felt reborn. I drove for a while on the frontage road till the storm drifted away, listening to A.R. Kane's Sixty Nine, the ideal soundtrack for passing through a temporary Lemuria. Tags: everyday, music, weather
Current Location: 85704
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We're going to experience something this week that I've managed to avoid in my nine years living in Tucson. Although this year's Monsoon season has already arrived, a little earlier than the average start date, its effects on the weather are going to disappear almost entirely over the next week. I know that such a reversion to the worst days of June is not that uncommon, statistically. I'm pretty sure it has happened, to a lesser extent, since I moved here. I was out of town, though, and didn't have to bear the brunt of the disappointment. In a way, this may actually work out better in the long run, provided the Monsoon effects return with full force later. This year's Monsoon didn't arrive with the dramatic shift in weather that makes its longed-for return so exciting. June was cooler than usual. And the humidity built up gradually. Indeed, the weather was sufficiently mild that the brutality of the first storm of the season, which usually breaks numerous branches off of our mesquite trees, was tempered. While I'm not eager to deal with the consequences of microbursts -- those are the brief, hurricane-strength gusts that do most of the damage during thunderstorms here -- I could definitely benefit from the thrill of a violent storm that comes raging in after several days of brutal dry heat. But if someone up at central command is reading this, I would greatly prefer it if this round of foreplay led to a climax at the beginning of next week, rather than deferring it further into July. I can handle 110 degrees for a day or two, if release is coming. Longer than that, though, and my emotional weather will take a severe turn for the worse. Tags: everyday, health, tucson, weather
Current Location: 85704
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I complain too much about the heat at this time of year. There was a time when it truly felt intolerable. Now, though, it's more of a nuisance than a major burden. Hell, I went jogging in the middle of the afternoon the other day, for one-and-a-half times my normal run, despite the fact that the temperature was over 100 and my legs and "breathers" are pretty out of shape for that sort of exercise. I survived without incident. And there are certain things about this time of year that I've come to anticipate with pleasure. The departure of the students I'm least likely to like, for one thing, following the departure of the senior citizens I'm least likely to like. The knowledge that the Monsoon will be here in less than two months, for another. But my favorite aspect of the current season is the intense craving I get for certain food and drink. Normally I'm not much of a tortilla chip fan. Right now, though, I am regularly overcome by the urge to dip a handful in spicy salsa. That last word is the key. Given how dry it is right now, the impulse to slow down the loss of fluids feels like an biological imperative. I want salt badly, whether in a margarita or anchovy sauce. Also, I love the way it feels to go to the pool at this time of year. I sit in the shade, reading, as if I were in a sauna -- not too far from the truth -- until I feel too desiccated to continue, then plunge into the blissfully eighty-degree water. And when I'm done floating or walking or swimming, I climb out and glory in the sensation of being air dried in minutes. Sometimes I fantasize that I'm a strip of beef drying in the rooftop sun. Maybe that's not your idea of fun, but I have a soft spot for extremity. I am also particularly eager for the full heat of the pre-Monsoon season to arrive, because it will mean the end of the allergy conditions that continue to make me periodically -- but no longer constantly -- miserable. Tags: autobiography, everyday, tucson, weather
Current Location: 8574
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The transition from Seattle on just about the nicest possible April day there to Tucson on a day that feels like the pre-Monsoon stirrings of early June is truly brutal. The strange thing, though, as I've learned before when returning from there or the Bay Area or Back East, is the best remedy is to spend time outside in the heat, rather than avoiding it like a vampire that has to stay out of the sun at all costs. I was just feeding the prematurely active tortoise -- Felicia doesn't like to hibernate and is also apparently a huge fan of plums -- and watering plants in the back yard while giving the outdoor cat Thing Two plenty of rubs and feel energized by my exposure to the elements. Then again, the fact that I finally had my "morning" coffee also might have something to do with it. So might my distance from the computer, which has been making me tense of late. Too much time attempting to write means knots in the back of my neck. Plus, it's Earth Day, right? I'm glad I transplanted the tomatoes that hadn't withered completely in my absence. It feels good to have dirt under my nails. A lot better than it feels to be holding the mobile phone in my hand. I could do with a moratorium on incoming calls for a month. Tags: everyday, pets, tucson, weather
Current Location: 85704
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In many ways, today was about as lovely as Tucson gets. Cool in the morning, warm and sunny in the afternoon, cool again at night, it almost felt like summer in Big Sur. Unfortunately, the wind also recalled California's most weather-beaten coastline. I knew it was going to be rough for the pollen-suffering people here when not only the paper and cardboard recycling kept blowing away this morning, but the bottles and cans as well. One of the reasons why it's so beautiful right now is that the Palo Verde trees are completely covered in their gorgeous yellow flowers. When it's windy, though, the pollen in those flowers takes off, forming clouds that look more like a bee swarm than anything you can inhale. I am greatly pleased with myself for not succumbing to the temptation to take an antihistamine. But my reward for such fortitude is to feel like I'm trudging through a Slurpee in a blindfold, desperately seeking the sleep of rhyme and reason. That's why I'm headed to bed instead of pursuing a more active agenda. Tags: everyday, health, tucson, weather
Current Location: 85704
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The cold has finally arrived here, if only at night. Somehow, even when it's in the 80s by day, the knowledge that a sweater would be needed at midnight changes one's relation to the day. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I keep getting the urge to hibernate. That will pass, in a week or two. Right now, though, with the energy loss that followed the election adding to the usual effect that the change of seasons has on me, I am finding it difficult to stay awake. I've started reading The Lord of the Rings aloud to Skylar right now and noted, upon reading of the hobbits' misadventures in the Old Forest, that the urge to sleep that besets them is eerily like my own. I'm hoping Tom Bombadil gets here before it's too late. Tags: literature, tucson, weather
Current Location: 85704
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Name: Charlie Bertsch
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You're looking at content from my Live Journal, which I have been keeping since 2003. I consider it a personal blog, though it lacks stream-of-consciousness revelations that typify that genre.
That said, if you manage to discern the confessional mode within entries that are superficially tight-lipped, I will reward you handsomely. Or at least pretend to do so.
In addition to reflections, however mediated, on my daily activities, De File features periodic excavations of material from my "files," a revelation sure to disturb anyone who has seen my garage. It's an experiment in integrating past and present, perhaps with a little redemption along the way.
Politics is always on my mind, but rarely explicit here. I’m working on a theory about what personal writing like this does to literary identification and why some people resist its pull so powerfully. But my goal is to make that theory dissolve in my practice, a density in liquid.
You'll note that I have links to blogs not on LiveJournal directly above, as well as assorted websites of note. The blogs I read regularly on LiveJournal itself fall under "FRIENDS" at the top, for those of you unfamiliar with LJ’s workings.
You can write me. I'm "cbertsch" before the circle-a and "comcast.net" after it. |
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