Petrichor

"Petrichor".

That's the technical name for the smell in the air
when rain falls on the dry ground.
Bet ya didn't know there was a name for it.

It's not a very old name.
It was first coined by two geologists in 1964.
The "petri" comes from the Greek word for stone,
and "ichor" refers to the fluid that ran through the gods of Greek mythology.

Of course, long before anyone had a fancy name for it,
we just called it "the smell of the rain" or something like that.

For the last 14 months or so, we've been fearing the "Rain-Pocalypse"
that so many forecasters have been barking about, and while we certainly do need more water here in California, I didn't want it.

I didn't want it to fall on the US Gondola Nationals in November,
on the Christmas boat parade in December, and I most certainly did not want to see any rain on or around Valentine's Day.

As it happened, we had a dry Nationals,
only one night of rain during the five nights of boat parade,
and V-Day? Well, not only did it not rain,
the weather couldn't have been better.

Today, as I stepped out the front door in my t-shirt and shorts,
and went to move my car after street-sweeping night,
I noticed rain drops, and with my first breath - petrichor.

My knee-jerk reaction was one of worry,
but then I realized that it's February 17th.
Valentine's Day is behind us.

I smiled, breathed, and walked in the rain - enjoying the smell,
and not caring one bit about the water that was falling on me or my gondolas.

Raindrops on the windshield.

Someone told me today that those forecasters are now saying that the rains will come in March.

I'm glad they were wrong about things so far.
I hope they are right about it now.

Bring on the rain!