The Desert Awash With Blooms

One of the great pleasures of living in the desert is when the monsoon comes and dusty and dry desert soil drinks deeply -- and quite magically, turns verdant and lush, blooming everywhere. Over the last ten days or so we have had over four inches of rain which is quite a bit for the desert. And everything has responded, leaping to life in fabulous blossoms, greening branches (even on skeletal and once dessicated bushes) and an orgy of blooms that washed down from the night rains only to be replaced by a profusion of new blooms. Mushrooms with papery fringes sprout in the once dry soil, and in the muddy washes, leading tothe river, tadpoles swarm and tiny frogs across the path. Quite wonderful.