Skywatch Friday: Hope in the Desert

Hope starts
With the first drop of rain.
In the desert the dry ground
Sizzles
And it’s gone;
But then another drop follows,
And another,

Until the fragile shower
Has become a raging torrent
Racing down desert washes
Filling empty pools
Until ponds and rivers form
Where once the earth lay
Bare-breasted in the baking sun.

And in these muddy waters
In the creosote scented air
As night falls
The mating calls
Of poison-skinned desert toads
Are sure to follow.

~Kathie Brown (8-24-09)

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SKYWATCH FRIDAY

These photos were taken Saturday as the rains came down. I did not see any toads this weekend but I did finally hear them calling wildly in the night after last week's rain. So, there is hope for the next genereation after all.

All of today's photos were taken by Kathie with the Nikon D80 and the 18-70mm lens set in Programmed Auto. Except for the toad which was photographed 7-3-09 with the 70-300mm lens set in sports mode.