Seattle hipsters beware! Prescott young folk are getting off the trails and packing into the grungiest coffee shops they can find to dry their sodden hiking boots. The rains have been reoccurring every day, from morning till evening, the drizzle is relentless and steady. Clearly this is either an extension of the mid-summer monsoon season or something entirely different. Did someone say global warming? Why indeed, I sure see the tell-tale sights.

This morning I gazed out our kitchen window at the dark brooding sky and had to remind myself that I moved to this high northern desert town because the city website claimed a wholesome 300 days of sunshine a year. And for the most part the city has held up to its standard. Until now.

A few short months ago I would have struck my fist at the thunderous sky and cursed Zeus and all his accomplices. Now, after spending a solid month in Dharamsala, one of the rainiest places on earth, I think differently. I am slowly evolving into that woman who draws the shades, drinks too much tea, and plays Chopin while reading the latest Paulo Coelho novel. And I used to be so outdoorsy! But what choices do I have in with the latest weather patterns? Yoga is the only active thing I seek daily.

My time in Dharamsala, another high elevation town in Himachal Pradesh, India, is known for its heavy monsoons. Their year average rainfall is 3000 mm, or 120 inches. The term humid subtropical climate applies here, as their monsoon can begin as early as April and might not let up until September. This year I was there during the heaviest rains that caused the Ganges to flood down in the valley, killing thousands of people and displacing many more. I bet that didn’t reach the news back home much did it?

Point made, I know monsoons. I can now handle record amounts of rainfall. And I find I actually like a rainy day, really. It brings us into a cocoon like state. We want conversation and warm drinks and fuzzy slippers. I’ve read almost as many books this summer as I did in middle school when I wanted to have the record for the most Accelerated Reading points. Now that bordered on the OCD scale…