Whipped up

6am this morning. High altitude eddies had whipped up a niffty little backlit sombrero for the Agua volcano.

It made me think of walnut whips.

We were watching Nadal's epic semi with Fernando Verdasco. The Argies on ESPN were speculating about Roger Federer's levels of concurrent repose. "With the duvet tucked up to his chin," speculated one, as we entered the fifth hour, already eating into Nadal's rest-day portential.

The No2 seed won't be feeling so refreshed however if, like us, he stayed up to watch the match, V commented.

Meanwhile Guatemala's top junior tenistaJulen Urigen came unstuck in the semis at Melbourne yesterday, losing to Germany's Alexandros-Ferdinandos Georgoudas: 4-6, 4-6. He had a good run...

Over the course of the past few days I've been speculating whether there might be a dry season adverse of the Canícula (dog days), the roughly week-long stretch of hot dry weather that turns up a third of the way into the wet season. We had our first proper cloudburst since October on Wednesday, with perhaps another during the course of last night. A series of clear, warmer mornings have been followed by afternoons where somber clouds have puffed up impressively behind the surrounding contours.

V has pointed out that February is known locally as the mad month (el mes loco), both a comment on its wonted climatic conditions and an unfortunate prognostication for those who happen to be born in the course of the year's shortest month.

A few hours before that dust-devitalising downpour there was a fairly strong tremor. (5.2 on the Richter scale it was eventually reported.). A clue to its origin came when we watched a charcoal grey plume billowing up from behind the woolpack then shrouding the Fuego volcano.