Summer is almost over

I love living in the Southwest. Having grown up in California and now living in Arizona, I have never had to deal with humidity or shoveling snow. (I enjoy the snow, but only as a visitor. I never enjoy humidity, however.) However, I have discovered that by the time Halloween gets here, the temperatures should be dropping. Well, they are not. Driving around town this weekend required using my A/C. It's October 29! Enough already! I'm ready for a high temperature of 80 (or less), not 90!

But...on one of my walks around the neighborhood this weekend, I saw a sign of hope. Early one morning, as the moon was setting in the west, I noticed this:

This is an ocotillo plant, and like most desert plants, ocotillos bloom in the spring and summer. Bright red clusters appear at the end of each prickly stalk. If you look very closely at the top of the plant, just to the right of the moon, you will see one of these clusters. The key word here is "one." In other words, all of the other blooms are gone. Only one is left. What does this mean? Summer is almost over... (yay!)