futile gesrtures

It is a big category -- the things we do in hopes that the result will not be as we know they will be.

Voting probably tops the list. Or hoping this time that your mother-in-law's peanut butter casserole has improved.

This morning I was up early to drive to Cihuatlán in what proved to be -- well, a futile gesture. It was still dark enough that I could not tell whether the sky was overcast or if the sun was close enough to rising that it had blotted out the starscape.

It turns out that it was just overcast.

That is notable because we have not had rain here since early winter. And that fact is unnotable because our winters and summers are normally bone dry. The hills here are showing the lack of water. What was jungle green in November is now Sahel brown and gray.

Our local Facebook pages were achatter last week about a weather formation that was building up off the coast of Central America. A large contingent, including me, were looking forward to the possibility of our first rain of the year.

Whenever these discussions get started there is another group that will state with almost mathematical certainty that rains here never start before 15 June. Or 20 June. Or 2 July if there has been a waxing gibbous moon two days before. The group is certain there is a specific date. They just do not agree what that date is.

As it turned out, the weather formation did not result in a storm, and what activity there was decided to go vacation in Hawaii rather than visiting locally. The clouds this morning were nothing more than a seasonal tease that rains are on the way -- some day.

And they will be. But not today. The clouds have already broken up to give us another sunny morning and afternoon. If the plants in the patio want water, Dora and I will need to bring the hose to them.

Like everything in Mexico, we will just need to be patient for the arrival of the rains. But, when they do arrive, we will undoubtedly be overly-blessed.

Until then, there will be other futile gestures in which I can indulge.