So, I blew right past the standard pagan solstice holiday without a mention, or even much of a thought. (The one in winter has always meant a lot more to me for some reason.)

However, there is a local summer variant that comes along when it feels like it, and it felt like it today.

After 24 hours without any sleep (I have no idea why), I crashed at 1 this morning and slept clear through to 11 very peacefully. When I woke, it was darker out than it should have been for the hour. Clouds had rolled in overnight.

I checked the weather page for the precipitation chance. Five, eight, eleven percent throughout the day. Interesting.

While I was making the coffee, I heard vague thunder from up in the hills. It didn’t sound like no eleven percent to me.

Heading down into town, I could see it coming down to the south. Eventually I caught up and drove straight into it. By the time I got where I was going, I had to sit in the car for a while to let it go by without getting personally soaked.

In moments like this I work the wipers to get the glass shiny clean. Adjust the clock and the radio. Take the wet on the inside of the door onto a cloth, and use it to wipe the dust from the dash.

These are necessary prosaic traditional rituals for the marking of the holy day.

I’d say this is an early start to the monsoon, though not uncommonly early. Often times it’ll begin, then go back to sun and baseline summer temps (99 degrees here) for a week or two, before getting going properly for the season.

Temperatures are 5 degrees cooler during the day (though more humid), and 5 degrees warmer at night (though breezier, with luck), for a start. Both are due to the cloud cover. During the storms proper the temperature can drop another 40 degrees.

Each time they do another religious festival takes place, if only quietly and down in the heart.