Saturday, October 3, 2009

If I Inhale Anymore I'm going to Choke

Dust storm deux by Handles.
Three days after the far-reaching red dust storm pummeled across Sydney, a second storm added insult to injury on Saturday. Hope you didn't already wash your car.
Photo of second dust storm by Handles on flickr.


I've never hoped for rain like I have this past week. A couple of hours ago it started, and now I sit here enjoying the sound from my cracked crank-out window... finally. Eagerly awaited rain, quenching the dry, powdery-fine red sand which had baked onto cars and sidewalks and leaves over the last ten days.

In the last couple hours I've begun to breathe a little easier (literally) and the taste of dust has diminished thanks to the fresh moisture in the air. I can feel the humidity slowly seeping back into my throat and lungs.

The rain is letting up now, the sound outside my window has stopped. I'm hoping this wasn't just a light shower that's passed, and that bright skies won't be back tomorrow. They said it's supposed to rain for the next few days; I'm counting on them to be right.

It's time for the burnt orange sand to soak back into the earth where it belongs.
I've never been so relieved to see rain.



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17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aussie guy in Florida - I was chatting to my mum the other day and she was telling me that she had left the window open when it hit her place (she was away at the time) - Just outside Brisbane - after she arrived home has been cleaning for days.

People in the Sun said...

Good luck. I'm going to do a rain dance now for you (unless the sight of me dancing makes God even more angry).

Marvin said...

Wow, we used to get days like that when the whole state of Colorado was on fire... white ash everywhere. Terrible for your car's finish.

Unknown said...

ok really odd unrelated question.... by any chance were your husband and kids in canberra at all this week? if not i swear there is a clone of your family haha!

Laura said...

Aussie Guy in FL- And being that it hadn't rained the dust around our neighborhood was still on every tree, sidewalk etc. Landscapers were coming through blowing the dust everywhere with leaf blowers and every day I literally have felt like I'm about to have an asthma attack. It's been crazy.

PITS- It worked! It's been raining ever since you left that comment. Thanks so much.

Marvin- We used to get something similar from the fires in the Everglades-- but this being a dust storm was something like I've never experienced before!

Rinniez- Haha, nope wasn't us! But we were thinking of going to Canberra, it just didn't happen. You must be having psychic premonitions!! Though I would love to meet our clone family!!!

Andrea said...

Wow sounds dreamlike.

Laura said...

Andrea- Haha, more like a very chalky nightmare!

Kristim6@hotmail.com said...

Okay. I have to rub it in, simply because I never get to say this and it is always the other way around. It was a beautiful weekend in Melbourne!

Anonymous said...

I've been around tornados and ice storms, but never dust. Hope the rain washes your dust away.

nursemyra said...

ok the rain was good, but I've had enough now. Can we have the sun back tomorrow please?

A Free Man said...

You realize that it's not even summer yet, when things get reallly dry.

Cristin said...

hooray for rain!

Laura said...

kristim6- Fine be that way :).

Hereinfranklin- thanks, it did and I'm feeling quite refreshed!

Nursemyra- Yes, I like to keep it sunny but moist please.

Freeman- Ditto what I said to nursemyra :).

Cristin- Yes, totally!

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Jim said...

I didn't capture any shots of the second dust storm but I did get a few of the spectacular first red one.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Kate said...

Hope you didn't wash the car! Here in Bahrain I have to get mine washed every two days or I can't see out the windscreen for dust.And there is no more rain until February!!

Brutalism said...

Wow. That's something. Hope the state of things have improved since you posted. (That is an amazing photo, by the way...)