Interesting fact posted by Desert Botanical Gardens: the source of the smell of rain in the desert is Creosote!  Hmm. Interesting. I’ve always complained about the smell of rain here. I was used to the smell of freshness after a rain – wet grass, trees, flowers. When we moved here all I could smell was wet dirt. It is a harsh dirt smell – nothing like ‘home.’

Just last weekend I wrote a poem about the smell of wet dirt. How it made me want to close windows instead of opening them. How it hits the nostrils as a bad odor. I thought perhaps we didn’t get rain hard enough to completely remove the dust from the leaves of the trees, from the flower beds, from my windowsills. Then I read about creosote. It doesn’t make it any more appealing. It simply explains the reason behind it.

When I’m in northern Arizona we get rains throughout monsoon season. Up north the rain is followed by the strong smell of pine and cedar … still not the rain smells I’m accustomed to in the Midwest and the plains, but better than wet dirt.

I miss the smell of wet grass and the cool freshness of the outdoors after a cleansing rain. I miss Oklahoma and Minnesota rain. I wish I could have a bottle of it. Would that mean sending me a jar of wet grass? Of elm and oak tree leaves? Of rose petals or gladioli? If I figure it out, I’ll shoot out an e mail to my friends and family. Until then, you guys enjoy the smell of spring rain outside your windows!

Meanwhile — here is the result of our recent spring rain and I have to admit, it is beautiful!