I love when it rains in the desert. There’s something extra special about water in a space that’s always dry. While I’m not physically thirsty for the sky the open-up like the plants and animals, I feel excitement, appreciation, and celebration when it rains. I make a big deal out of it with my children and for myself. . . we run around outside and get soaked (so maybe even our skin somehow needs to feel and receive the gift of rain?), we search for a rainbow, observe the palm trees moving in the wind, the water pooling and carving paths in the hardened ground, and I take pictures. If you haven’t paused long enough to appreciate the beauty of thousands of water droplets on the needles and spines of cactus, I invite you to take a close look the next time it rains; it’s seriously stunning, especially when the sun breaks through the clouds! If you live somewhere other than the desert, I’m sorry this isn’t something you can experience in person, but here are some photos that capture the magic I’m describing.




Photographed with Canon 5D Mark IV and Canon 135mm f2L