we spend a huge amount of time outside- so those of us with Seasonal Affective Disorder have no problems at all- Here in southern AZ we have so much sun it's almost maddening.
When I first moved here (from Boston in 1992) I was told that the few white puffy clouds that were in the sky made it a "cloudy" day...and that one day I would be just like all the other Southern Arizonans, who plead for a drop of rain to eek from a feeble cloud.....they were right!
When it rains here it's like a party- everyone goes to the window and the porch and slurps in the smell of wet creosote bush and desert ozone. You should see the tweets about the rain- Tucson Tweeps all bombard their twitterverse with exhalations of joy. The plants green up, and birds tweet merrily.....All is good with the desert world..for about 15 minutes. Then it's back to sun sun sun sun sun sun sun.......The rarity of rain can explain why Tucson is also the home to Rainwater Harvesting and our local RH guru Brad Lancaster.(check out his book and website here)
Tucson is unlike most of AZ also because it is a patch of Democratic Blue in a sea of gun totin' whoop it up red Republicans. (ok, I'm exaggerating there, got a bit carried away with my stereotypes, but we are really a Democrat haven in a red state) There are often motions for Pima county to succeed from the rest of AZ. While Portland keeps it weird, Tucson keeps it subversive.
It's awful that Tucson got "on the map" this year from the acts of a lone disturbed individual. But it was heartening to see the community pull together in the wake of the tragic shooting spree. We all have a lot of healing to do- and us subversive liberal artsy fartsy Tucsonans are keeping it real down here in the Olde Pueblo.
ciao for now- M
