Winter skies are usually more interesting than summer skies in Northern California. That's because in winter we have precipitation, in theory. In summer, which lasts from April through October, we are drier than a Utah county.

Drier than a Dick Cavett/William F. Buckley interview.

Drier than the skin on the backs of my hands right now. Yeah, that dry.

Make no mistake about it, the rain that has been washing over us in sheets the last few days is beyond welcome and sorely needed. And the skies have been wondrous. Here are a few pictures from a thunderstorm that passed through a couple of weeks ago.

I played with the color just a tad, but not too much.

I took this one and the one that follows on my knees out the dirty dining room window. Even so, the sky was drenched in color, which I didn't mess with at all.

This last one was taken Friday morning. I was in my car, hand on the shifter, engine running, when I noticed how beautiful the view through the garage door was. No adjustment of your screen is necessary; the garage is crooked.

I have to remember days like these during our seven-month summers.