Legend of the Santa Anas

“It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen.” –Raymond Chandler, “Red Wind”

via The Los Angeles Times

It was one of those nights.  The Santa Anas left me electricityless, internetless, phoneless, and carless for several hours last night.  It’s a good thing I listened to my mother who had given me a plug-in outlet flashlight on Sunday.  She said, “Plug this into your wall by the door in case you need it if the electricity goes out.”  I argued with her saying the electricity won’t go out.  I think she slipped the flashlight into my suitcase because when I got home to unpack, there it was.  I remember thinking, well, it wouldn’t hurt to just plug it in.  Four days later, I’m REALLY glad I listened to my mother.

With a scared dog and a refrigerator that was barely just keeping my vegetables and white wine cool, I decided to turn the evening into a romantic one.  Yep, just me, myself and the dog at home!  I lit some candles, sliced up persimmons and made a nice little arugula salad by candlelight.  I washed that down with the last of my Riesling.  The Riesling calmed my nerves as the Santa Ana winds raced through Los Feliz at at least 60mph.

The Santa Ana Winds are no joke.  I had heard about these fabled winds many times, but in the two-and-a-half years I’ve lived here, I don’t recall ever feeling truly threatened by a gust of wind–until last night anyway.  It was exciting and borderline really scary to have sound of only the wind filling up my apartment.  The strength of those gusts were remarkable–it sounded like there was a man banging on my windows with two fists, constantly for five hours straight.  My dog wrapped her fuzzy body around my head as I laid face-up looking at the ceiling and watching my Christmas lights flicker on and off.  The electricity went out at least six times within three hours.  I thought, well, this is intense.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard mother nature’s presence be so strong.

As originally posted on my other blog December 1, 2011 at The View A La Vu