Sierra Foothill Garden

How the wind blows here…

Here by the national forest, when you don’t hear anything unless there is something, you pay attention to change in sound.

Tucked in bed last night with a book and just one small light, I did not hear, as much as became aware, of a soft steady sound like a low roar as if it, the something was far away,…and coming.

A low, whispering train,…coming.

Wind in the Sierras is surprising. You don’t just have a windy day.  You first hear the sound. You perk up your ears and notice,…looking around in wonder.

If it’s day, and a Mono wind, our strongest Sierra wind, you think, ‘Wow, look at those trees go.  They’re now blowing horizontally. WOW,’ and you begin to think of how far the trees would fall, should they do so.

This night, I could imagine an immense transparent body of moving air as big as the mountain, coming,…not fast but steady, pushing unfalteringly through the narrow valley, where along one mountain side our house clings.

The still soft air puffed through the small narrow window screen above my bedside. I snuggled in, feeling the icy freshness of the new Autumn air on my face. I continued to read, enjoying the new sound, enjoying my safe  shelter, until…. the gusts and cracking began. The bedroom door moved a bit and I heard the crack cracking of some trees that were not expecting this tonight. 

With a sigh I got up and asked my husband, still up and reading too, with the dog, to go out and close the shed door. Who will know if it was to be a Mono Wind tonight?

But no, not this night,…just a change, …coming.

Back to bed, book down, to go to sleep with the wind.