In the last 10 days, we have had more rain than in each of the last 5 or 6 years!  Knowing it was going to be stormy, I took a quick drive to Dana Point Harbor to see what was happening.  There was little activity, but when I looked upwards I was pleasantly surprised to see an old friend.  I stayed only a few minutes, but I was able to find a good vantage point from which I didn't have to look straight up.  This was the only heron I saw that day, but it may become a favorite for the year.

As I drove away, I noticed lots of gulls sitting on the  channel-side breakwater -- I'd seen lots of larger birds on the breakwater, but never gulls.

For the next several days, I never left home  -- it poured each day, and we were being asked not to be out and about unless it was necessary.  This is what my driveway looked like on one of those days.

This was pretty heavy rain, considering that we've had less than 6 inches of rain each of the last few years (our average is about 15 inches).  As gray as it looks, it was good to see rain for a few days.  The rain has now stopped, and today was sunny all day, although the roofs were frosty this morning.  It is to be in the low 70's tomorrow, and I've heard conflicting reports for next weekend -- one says it could be rainy again, an the other says temperatures could be close to 80.  We still need lots of rain to fill the lakes and get us out of the deficit caused by the drought, but this past week of rains certainly helped avert a crisis in the Southland!

During a quick break between storms last week, I took the camera to see what hat happened on the construction site.  I could see a little progress, but the most striking thing I saw was that the tops of all the hills are green -- the green of spring; the green after a rain!

And looking through some eucalyptus trees, the hill across the highway is also very green.

In the next week or two, as it clears up, I will have the camera with me, and will be sure to take more photos of the green hills so symbolic of this time of year!

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The hills are alive

With the green of rainy days;

They will be greener!

Since the first of the year, it appears that we have had some rain every day.  It only takes a little to turn the grasses green, and the hills are now looking quite chartreuse!  We've had anywhere from 1/10 inch to 1-1/2 inches  each day -- we are almost on target to meet an average rainfall to date this year, but the predictions are for a few more days of this, then dryer weather again.  This winter will not break our drought, but it has been nice to have a more normal winter!