Santa Ana winds were blowing here today and they added to my very upbeat mood. Santa Ana's are very dry, strong, gusty winds that come from the northeast high desert traveling in a southwesterly direction- through mountain passes and canyons outward towards the ocean. It was these kinds of winds that created the conditions for the massive fires in southern California last fall.
But when there is no fire, I love these winds that come and change the skies around Los Angeles, making things so crystal clear that you feel you could stand on a mountaintop and see forever. The sky swept of its debris, becomes an achingly beautiful crisp blue somewhere between the Crayola crayon colors of sky and cornflower blue. The summer and winter skies have different shades of this, but it is breathtaking. The winds themselves swirl around touching everything, sometimes with a caress and sometimes with force moving in many directions at once- capable of snapping branches, trees, power lines, moving trucks and cars into other lanes -letting everyone and everything know just who is more powerful that moment. Standing in them, one can resist being pushed and moved around, or one can give in, and simply enjoy the hot, warm and cool blasts, the gentle wisps, caresses and touches, the unpredictable dance that is this wind along with the mixed scents of everything touched along the way. They feel alive and have voice as well as presence.
I cannot stop the huge smiles on my face when I stand in these winds. I wonder where they have come from, who they touched and tried to speak to before they touched me, where they are going next and what scents and messages they will carry on to the next place and person ...and the next. I never fail to pause at least for a few moments, to take it all in- to listen, smell, see and simply feel.
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