Stop the presses. It’s raining.

Actually, at the moment sun is pouring in through the blinds in my office, but I can see some dark clouds. We’ve had inches and inches of rain in Phoenix this week, something our streets — and our psyches — just aren’t prepared to deal with.

Last night Ray and I watched the local news, and he finally flipped the channel after 15 minutes straight of stories about the weather.

The rain is big news in Sophie’s world, as well. Today she donned her bright red slicker and brought (appropriately, I thought) a stuffed duck — at least I think it’s a duck — along to school.

And I got this lovely note from her teacher last night:

We did an impromptu descriptive writing piece today based on the weather. I had the kids (during a non-windy moment) walk slowly in their raincoats to the computer lab and back observing the rain with all five senses. Then, we came back in to complete a graphic organizer on it. Sophie saw huge raindrops, heard wind from a storm, smelled wetness, tasted…(my favorite) chocolate- and specifically chocolate mint, and she felt chocolate as well. “Sophie,” I asked, “Tell me more about how the rain felt like chocolate?” She gave me such a smile, “like cold chocolate ice cream.” I loved it…so descriptive and delicious to boot. I know what I’m having for dessert!